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STRATEGIC MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT AT THE JOURNEY CHURCH:
NURTURING APOLOGISTS FOR MODERN CHALLENGES
CHAPTER 1
MINISTRY SETTING
“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make
a Defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope in you; yet do it with
gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)
In 1 Peter 3:15, Peter challenges the church always to be prepared to give a
defense; such a defense must define itself in contrast to the previous two verses. Verses
thirteen and fourteen refer to being zealous for what is good amid persecution. The
apologetic call is to do well in one’s life through one’s passion, which is Christ, creating
a desire to share the reason for hope in the middle of persecution and struggle. To be the
kind of apologist who honors Christ as holy, one needs a proper understanding of their
greater purpose in all life’s struggles and efforts. The following surveys give us a
thousand-foot view of the challenge at hand for the current state of apologetics in a post-
Christian culture.
According to the American Bible Society, more than three in four (77%) of
American households own a Bible.1 A recent study suggests that only 10 percent of
Americans can articulate a biblical worldview.2 Thus, they cannot defend their faith in
God and the Bible.3 According to a 2017 Pew Research survey, (79%) of U.S. Christians
are divided over how to interpret the Bible. While about four in ten (39%) say the Bible’s
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text is the Word of God and should be taken literally, (36%) say it should not be taken
literally in expression or opinion. Another (18%) of Christians view the Bible as written
by men, not God.4 Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research conducted a joint survey to
determine the state of theology among Christians in the United States.5 Despite the clear
teaching of scripture, the survey reveals that half of all evangelicals surveyed believe that
God changes through adjusting to various situations (see Appendix 4 Graph 1). With the
rise of humanistic philosophies, it is not surprising that most adults believe that humans
are born innocent—quite relevant statistics as seen in the survey (see Appendix 4 Graph
2). The fact that nearly two-thirds of the evangelicals surveyed said they believe humans
are born innocent reveals that most Christians do not entirely accept or ignore the biblical
teaching of original sin. The lines of absolute truth continue to become blurred, leading to
an inconsistent Biblical ethic.6 The following project will contextualize7 the urgent need
for better-formed, informed, and transformed apologists who can defend their convictions
regarding why they believe what they believe concerning God and His Word. Let’s
consider the ministry setting where the following project is birthed.
4 A.W. Geiger, “Pew Research: 5 Facts on How Christians View the Bible and Other Religious
Texts,” April 14, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/14/5-facts-on-how-americans-
view-the-bible-and-other-religious-texts.
5 “The State of Theology in America: What do people feel about God, Salvation, Ethics, and the
Bible? Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research accessed December 15, 2022,
https://research.lifeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Ligonier-State-of-Theology-2022-White-
Paper.pdf.
6 The State of Theology in America.
7 Robin Dale Hadaway, A Survey of World Missions (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2020), 159.
Contextualize as Defined by Dr. Robin Hadaway: “defining Christian contextualization as the correct
application of biblical truth using insights from a society’s culture and worldview to communicate the
unchanging gospel to a constantly changing world.”
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Ministry Setting Description
The Journey Church (TJC) launched its first service on the last Sunday in January
2012. Over the past eleven years of pastoring TJC, it has become painfully clear to the
project director that the most glaring problem in the Christian culture today is poorly
formed followers of Christ. The following factors contribute to a need for more spiritual
formation: 1) TJC is comprised of people from various church traditions, beliefs, and
backgrounds; 2) Most people at TJC did not grow up in a Christian Home environment
where the Word is taught and exalted; 3) TJC families are primarily military, meaning
they move every two to three years, thus, leaving little time for long-term engagement in
Biblical Community. Each of these factors leads to a unique and challenging ministry
setting. Before engaging the primary focus of the following project, one must consider
how God prepared the soil.
God Preparing the Soil
The initial start of TJC began when a seventeen-year youth pastor veteran
experienced the compelling call of God to preach the gospel. After almost two decades in
student ministry, the project director began to pursue a pastorate in a traditional church
setting. Following several rounds of interviews at multiple churches, the project director
made it to the final two or three candidates in consideration, only to be informed that due
to a lack of senior pastor experience, the churches were going in a different direction
with their search.
The project director had not previously considered church planting. Then, it
became evident that the impetuous deep gnawing revealed the more profound passion for
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making disciples who make disciples. Over the past twenty years of ministry, the project
director had seen professing followers of Christ lack the skills and knowledge necessary
to fulfill the call to make disciples and the mandate to give a defense. Throughout the
project director’s ministry, he continually brought to the attention of church leadership
the need for better-formed apologists through building long-term discipleship
relationships. The plea, however, seemed to fall on deaf ears. Each year, the project
director’s church holds a church planning retreat. Every year, the project director would
disparage the church’s lack of focus on intentional discipleship and the church’s doctrinal
statement to fulfill the great commission. Many churches in our culture find themselves
stuck in the rut of tradition or past ministry patterns that fail to be effective in today’s
post-Christian culture. Therefore, churches should plant churches who plant churches. It
became increasingly evident that the prospect of church planting provides an avenue to
create the DNA of long-term intentional discipleship. Pretending that the possibility of
church planting did not bring great trepidation and apprehension to the project director
would be a lie.
The following project did not begin on the first day in Killeen, Texas. It started in
the trenches of the local church in Port Lavaca, Texas. In his book Discipleship, A.W.
Tozer reminds readers that “many around Jesus were trying to make the path to Jesus
seem as undemanding as possible. Christ calls His followers to carry their cross, saying
there is nothing easy about true discipleship.”8 The time for taking up the cross of Christ
8 A.W. Tozer, Discipleship: What it Truly Means to be a Christian (Chicago, Ill: Moody
Publishers, 2018), 93.
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and following the path He has established to plant TJC became abundantly clear to the
project director. Next, let us look at what other people say about the culture's current
climate of discipleship and apologetics.
What are Others Saying?
The project director interviewed local pastors and current ministry leaders to elicit
their input on the ministry setting at TJC and the local community (See Appendix 1 for
interview questions). Their opinions are expressed herein.
Joe contends that discipleship is less challenging in his current ministry setting
because TJC encourages disciple-making. The lack of willing participants continues to
be difficult as life and distractions are present. According to Joe, the moral high ground
is less far gone than some assume. He has found that more people look to the church for
the model of morality and the good life. Joe sees that fear of understanding and being
judged hinders true discipleship. When asked if the church has become biblically literate,
Joe exclaims that current media so stimulates people that they have ceased reading the
Bible. Lack of trust and selfish pride leads to fewer mature, faithful disciples of Christ.
Joe proclaims that the fear of what they do not know is why people do not make
disciples.
Regarding hindrances to practical apologetics, Joe contends that people do not know
what they do not know. Also, the fear of offending people leads to trepidation regarding
apologetics. In answer to whether people are open to the gospel, Joe believes people are
less available because they want a Jesus that doesn’t call them to sacrifice; they want a
god of convenience. Regarding preparedness to share the gospel message, Joe feels that
it
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all depends on where they are at in their zeal for the kingdom. Joe describes his current
ministry setting as people hungry for truth moving from lukewarm to hot.9
Landon expressed that discipleship is more challenging in today’s ministry
culture. Landon indicates that more are coming to faith, but fewer mature believers lead
the flock. He believes the church today has lost the moral high ground from those
choosing to live in the perceived gray areas of life. When asked if the Church has
become biblically literate, Landon expresses that cultural relativism is the cause of
decreasing biblical literacy as people incorporate more of culture and less sound biblical
truth.
According to Landon, many believers have never made one disciple because they have
yet to learn what it looks like to be a true disciple of Christ. When asked what the most
significant hindrances to practical apologetics might be, Landon asserts that people fear
confrontation and rejection. Such fear leads to apathy regarding giving a defense for
Christ. Landon finds that fewer people are open to the gospel message primarily because
the world wants the love and acceptance of Christ without His judgment and wrath.
According to Landon, people in church culture today are less prepared to share the
gospel due to a lack of biblical knowledge and training. Finally, Landon defined the
spiritual state of his current ministry setting as growing and strengthening in the past two
years of ministry.10
9 Joe Leon, (Elder, The Journey Church) Interviewed by Project Director, Place of Interview: Joe
Leon’s House, Killeen Tx., March 13, 2023, 3:00 p.m.
10 Landon Grissett, (Worship Leader at The Journey Church), Interviewed by Project Director,
Place of Interview: The Journey Church, March 2, 2013, 6:00 p.m.
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Aaron views discipleship today as more challenging due to the increasing
darkness of culture and connectedness to technology. When considering whether the
church has lost the high ground today, Aaron concludes that it is due to the continual
moral failings of Church leadership. When considering critical distractions to genuine
discipleship in his context, Aaron contends that his current military setting is one of the
greatest detractors due to continual deployments and moves, causing less time to focus
on building authentic discipleship relationships. When considering the biblical
intellectual state of the church, Aaron suggests that it has become less literate due to
fewer people opening and reading God’s Word for themselves. According to Aaron,
much of the reason true discipleship does not occur is a byproduct of people's failure to
die to themselves. Aaron contends that one of the overriding factors as to why most
people have never made a disciple in their lifetime is the factor of commitment and
disconnectedness. It takes time to build a disciple; according to Aaron, most people are
unwilling to sacrifice their time. Regarding practical apologetics, Aaron suggests that
hindrances include fear that someone knows more about the Bible than they do, assuming
people around them already know Christ, and the fear of looking stupid.11 Aaron
concludes that when it comes to people’s readiness to accept the gospel, people have not
changed due to failure to receive the truth. Regarding the spiritual temperature of TJC,
Aaron concludes
11 Aaron Ziggler (Leadership, The Journey Church), Interviewed by Project Director, Place of
Interview: Black Rifle Coffee, Killeen, TX. March 14, 2013, 7:00 a.m.
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that it is doing better each year and seeing hearts changed and lives transformed in
Christ.12
As Ezekiel says in Ezekiel 17:9, Audrey contends that the heart is deceitful above
all others and desperately sick. Regarding discipleship as less or more challenging,
Audrey believes it depends on the nature of the heart of the one being discipled. If the
person being discipled understands the desperate need for a transformed heart,
discipleship is less challenging. If the individual desiring discipleship fails to view their
heart as desperately sick, then discipleship is more complicated. Regarding the moral
high ground, Audrey finds that the church, founded on God’s principles, has consented to
the realm of compromise rather than truth. When it comes to biblical literacy, Audrey
contends that the heart and desire of people to know God and His nature through the
inspired Word is always a struggle. Audrey expressed that more people do not make
disciples because they hang out in the shallow end of Christianity and never press into
the more profound things of God. Regarding practical apologetics, Audrey feels that
more people do not deploy apologetics in their ministry because they need to prepare to
give a defense ahead of time. When it comes to people being open to the gospel, Audrey
explains that even though culture has changed, people have not. Audrey contends that her
ministry community has the zeal and desire for the kingdom. She believes that her
current ministry setting is doing the work of the Church.13
12 Aaron Ziggler, (Leadership, The Journey Church), Interviewed by Project Director, Place of
Interview: Black Rifle Coffee, Killeen Tx. March 14, 2013, 7:00 a.m.
13 Audrey Leon (Outreach Team Leader at The Journey Church), Interviewed by the Project
Director, Place of Interview: Audrey Leons Home, Killeen, Tx. March 13, 2023, 3:00 p.m.
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Johanna finds that discipleship is generally more challenging in the church today
due to the busier aspect of society and the time involved. The other contributing factor is
a lack of understanding by the present church as to the purpose of discipleship.
Regarding the moral high ground, Johanna feels that it has been lost due to the
disconnectedness of the church today. According to Johanna, churches’ attempts to fit in
with culture have made them more segregated and detached. Johanna concludes that the
significant distraction to discipleship is that people value their time off and do not like
having their faults and flaws highlighted. Johanna feels that people are more eager to
know what scripture says. When considering why more people have not made disciples,
Johanna contends that the fear of rejection and lack of knowledge is at the top of the list .
According to Johanna, the most significant hindrance to apologetics is the lack of
scriptural knowledge and the feeling of trepidation when answering difficult questions.
Johanna contends that people are more open to the gospel due to the state of the world
leading people to look for answers and peace. Concerning people equipped to share the
gospel today, Johanna feels fewer people are prepared due to their unsureness, which
comes from a lack of practice in sharing the gospel. Johanna thinks the spiritual
temperature is increasing as people recognize the difference in the true church as it is
lived out in culture today.14
Regarding discipleship, pastor McMurray expressed that people seem less
motivated due to busy lives and less biblical literacy. According to pastor McMurray,
the
14 Johanna Long (Leadership at The Journey Church), Interviewed by Project Director, Place of
Interview: Johanna Long’s house, March 13, 2023, 1:00.
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church has lost the moral high ground today due to neutral pluralism. This means that the
cultures of the world and Christianity seek to co-exist without one or the other gaining
the high ground. When asked what critical distraction hinders faithful discipleship,
pastor McMurray blames the entertainment factor. Churches focusing more on online
presence has increased the digital attraction factor of trying to compete and decreased the
need for intentional, intimate discipleship relationships. Pastor McMurray contends that
the widening gap for biblical intellectualism may result from a greater focus on
evangelism, leading to a lessening emphasis on the more profound things of God.
According to Pastor McMurray, people start strong in the discipleship process and then
fall off due to distractions from daily life. When asked why more people have failed to
prioritize discipleship, Pastor McMurray attributes it to a failure to see discipleship as a
lifelong process. Also, there is a greater need to simplify the process of discipleship.
Pastor McMurray finds that fewer believers are discipled in such a way that it is
definable and repeatable. Pastor McMurray blames hindrance to apologetics on the
changing environment and fear of peer pressure, especially regarding the wokeness of
our present culture. Pastor McMurray feels that many people’s presuppositions about
apologetics are that they must be “the smartest guy in the room.” When asked if people
are open to the gospel today, pastor McMurry exclaimed that they are just as open and
closed simultaneously. People are just as open spiritually, while culturally, they are
closed due to a lack of experience in what is perceived as authentic conversations with
believers.
According to pastor McMurray, people are looking for something real. Pastor McMurray
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finds that his ministry is moving from cold to hot. People are sick of the retreat and very
optimistic about the future.15
Pastor Watson disagrees with many other interviewees that discipleship is more
difficult today in the sense of the discipleship process. He claims that while culture has
changed, the general human nature has not changed. When asked if the church has lost
the moral high ground, pastor Watson stated that it is due to Christianity no longer
finding itself as the predominant worldview. Also, the rise of secularism has made what
was once morally unacceptable acceptable. Thus, the church has found itself silent or
complacent regarding transgenderism, preferred pronouns, homosexuality, etc. Pastor
Watson sees some critical distractions that hinder true discipleship as the culture within
church autonomy. Discipleship has become a class, whereas the key to authentic
discipleship requires an intentional relationship. When asked if the church culture is
becoming biblically literate, pastor Watson proclaims it is less biblically literate due to
the secularization of culture. More people try to tie scripture to our present culture
instead of the biblical text. Regarding the most significant barrier to discipleship, pastor
Watson believes it is the failure of believers to live out their faith in everyday life.
Everyone is discipled in some way, even if it is terrible discipleship. Pastor Watson feels
that a believer’s lack of motivation for discipleship stems from their failure to see their
job as active participation in the kingdom of God. When asked about the most significant
hindrances to apologetics, pastor Watson views a lack of understanding of discussing
15 Dave McMurry (Pastor of Grace Bible Church, Killeen, Tx.), Interviewed by Project Director,
Place of Interview: Phone Interview, March 13, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
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spirituality in daily conversation as the most important hindrance. According to Pastor
Watson, most people’s presupposition about apologetics is one of fighting, arguments,
and a fear of not having all the answers to people’s questions. Pastor Watson finds that
determining whether people are open to the gospel today is challenging. It all depends on
how significantly the reformed debate decides one’s openness to the gospel. He sees,
however, more hopelessness in the world, indicating a less open culture to the gospel. In
pastor Watson’s ministry, he has seen people today more ready to engage in intentional
discipleship, drawing into an authentic Christian community. When asked about the
spiritual temperature of pastor Watson’s ministry, he described it as blazing hot. People
are excited about Christ and the future of the church.16
Pastor Goings finds discipleship less challenging today than in the past. In the
past, according to Goings, one had to follow a specific system of discipleship that
contained a workbook and a master-teacher format. Today, it is more acceptable to live
together in authentic relationships. When asked if the church has lost the moral high
ground, pastor Goings declared yes because everyone is aware of their moral depravity
and sin being exposed in the church. Pastor Goings finds that some critical distractions
that hinder discipleship are highlighted by culturally biblical expectations and our ability
to detach and look at ourselves. People do not know how to deny themselves. Whether
pastor Goings feels the church has become Biblically literate, he would affirm that it has
become less literate in his ministry setting. He concludes that the church is more
16 Stephen Watson (Pastor of Christ Community Church, Killeen, Tx.), Interviewed by Project
Director, Place of Interview, Phone Interview, March 14, 2023, 10:00 a.m.
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informed but has less biblical understanding. For example, people have the Bible at their
fingertips through apps and technology; however, fewer know how to engage with
learning. According to pastor Goings, the most significant barrier to discipleship in
ministry is a lack of genuine awe for God. With the rise of technology, people find it
harder to unplug and focus on worshiping God in spirit and truth. Pastor Goings
concludes that fewer believers replicate disciples because of the failure to view
discipleship as the mission of Christ. When considering the significant hindrance of
practical apologetics in the ministry of Pastor Goings, he concludes it has to do with
different conflicts across multiple generations. For example, Generation X disagrees with
the millennial generation’s belief crisis. The ability to reach across cultural challenges to
apologetics is difficult. Considering presuppositions regarding apologetics, pastor Goings
concludes that most people assume the pastor will do it or the apologist on their media
podcast will do apologetics. They do not see it as their responsibility and calling. Pastor
Goings sees his current ministry's spiritual temperature as hotter than lukewarm. The
heat-up in spiritual growth is attributed to the focus on authentic biblical relationships.17
Due to the military community’s frequent deployments and moves, Pastor
Grogan views discipleship as more challenging in his ministry setting. The transient
nature of the military community he ministers to plays a more significant role in the
shorter time he has to disciple and grow mature followers of Christ. Pastor Grogan feels
that the church has lost the moral high ground in our culture today, primarily because of
the slippery
17 Jason Goings (Pastor of Grace Church Salado, Tx.), Interviewed by Project Director, Place of
Interview: Phone Interview, March 13, 2023, 10:00 a.m.
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slope of compromising the truth. When asked what critical distractions hinder faithful
discipleship, pastor Grogan claimed that one’s career choice and the idol of self are the
primary distractions. People see the chase toward the pinnacle of their careers as time-
consuming and self-focused. He also proclaimed that the nuclear family had caused many
distractions with kids’ activities and the family’s social schedule. Regarding whether the
church has become biblically literate, pastor Grogan exclaims that it lacks a basic
understanding of essential stories in scripture. He explains that being a Christian is no
longer culturally acceptable. People are not taught how to read and study Scripture.
According to pastor Grogan, there is another pressing issue: culture today does not read.
Today’s culture is becoming less literate, contributing to more biblical illiteracy. Pastor
Grogan concludes that most people have not made disciples because discipleship has
become ambiguous in our culture. According to pastor Grogan, the focus on past
evangelism has stunted authentic discipleship. He explains that we have gutted the great
commission, causing church culture to miss its true calling to make disciples. Pastor
Grogan asserts that people do not see the value of discipleship because one fails to see
the importance of investing in people’s lives. Regarding hindrances to practical
apologetics in ministry, pastor Grogan concludes that ignorance is the most significant.
According to pastor Grogan, people cannot defend what they do not know. When
considering presuppositions people have toward apologetics, pastor Grogan suggests that
people either assume one must have a degree on the wall or did not have their apologetic
question answered. Therefore, they are apprehensive about apologetics. Considering if
people are open to the gospel message today, pastor Grogan responded that dead hearts
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are dead. Coming to God without the Holy Spirit drawing and calling people to Himself
is impossible. Pastor Grogan concludes that people may become more open to the gospel
when sensing the conviction of the one sharing the gospel. Pastor Grogan considers
people less prepared to share the gospel fluently. Pastor Grogan contends that the fluency
of the gospel message manifests itself when one preaches the gospel to oneself first and
then communicates it with the masses. Pastor Grogan finds his current ministry
temperature is getting warmer and has remained optimistic about the church’s future.18
In summary, several major themes run throughout the survey. According to the
interviewees, people have not changed; humanity walks in darkness and finds itself
desperately sick. Culture and its context, however, have changed. More people do not see
the need for discipleship in one’s modern-day context due to a flawed view and
understanding of what it means to be a disciple. The interviewees highlighted several
vital barriers to genuine discipleship: time, technology, relativism, connectedness, and
apathy. Most interviewees agree that apprehension toward apologetics is interconnected
with biblical illiteracy. The lack of biblical knowledge in post-modern culture leads to
fewer well-formed, informed, and transformed followers of Christ. Most interviewees
find the temperature of their ministry setting as hopeful and heating up as people gain a
greater understanding of what it looks like to be a disciple of Christ. Now, let’s consider
what place demographics play in the overall project.
18 Neal Grogan (Associate Pastor of Christ Community Church, Harker Heights Tx.), Interviewed
by the Project Director, Place of Interview: Phone Interview, March 12, 2023, 1:00 p.m.
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Demographics
TJC resides in Killeen, Texas, one of Texas’s fastest-growing and most diverse
communities. The following demographics are vitally important for understanding and
ministering to those in our church community. Those in Killeen, Texas, are
predominately high school graduates (see Appendix 4 Graph 3). TJC continually shares
with our members that when they enter the Christian faith, they enter the University of
Jesus Christ (see Appendix 4 Graph 3). We are a multi-ethnic and culturally diverse
community, leading to many ideas and beliefs about what it looks like to be a disciple of
Christ (see Appendix 4 Graph 4). Killeen is one of the youngest communities in Texas,
which leads to the complexities of raising young children and navigating through
parenthood, which produces family conflict and strife (see Appendix 4 Graph 5).
Everything in Killeen, Texas, centers around the reality of war, leading to
continual family separations and conflicts from long deployments and time apart.
Therefore, our community is in constant turmoil and uncertainty (see Appendix 4, Graph
6). The following demographic facts lead to vibrant mission fields, which are not seen as
negatives but as opportunities for the gospel to flourish in Killeen, Texas, and to the ends
of the earth. Consider the project director’s story and what led him to start a church in
Killeen, Texas.
About the Project Director Path
The project director spent his formative years in Hobbs, New Mexico, the son of
Jerry and Nancy Hoover, faithful followers of Christ. After leaving high school, he
entered Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, where he would meet his future
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wife, Diana Jarred of Haskell, Texas. After three semesters of college and the prospect of
marriage, the project director followed a lifelong dream of being a United States Marine.
The project director often refers to his years in the Marines as God’s proving
ground for his life and ministry. Initially, he was rough around the edges and living in
rebellion against God, the project director. His life, however, took a transformative turn
when he found himself as a newly married Marine living halfway around the world in
Okinawa, Japan. It is interesting how God has a way of putting his children in the right
place at the right time to get their attention. God had placed the project director and his
wife halfway around the world, where they had no family to turn to for help and had to
rely on Him alone. One evening, the project director found himself face down at Koza
Baptist Church in Okinawa, feeling destitute and naked before the living God. This was a
pivotal moment in the project director's life as he surrendered himself to his Lord and
Savior. God chose this moment to call his servant back to himself and begin preparing
him for a much greater task than even he could imagine. For the first time in the project
director’s life, he experienced a face-down surrender to his Lord and Savior. Soon after
this event, a retired master sergeant took the project director under his wing and began
the process of discipleship. The first verse he gave to memorize was John 15:5: “I am the
vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for
apart from me, he can do nothing.” For the first time, the project director understood this.
This was a turning point in the project director's life as he began understanding what it
truly meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The smell, the feel, and the taste of
understanding the most excellent call to discipleship that day is the motivation that
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manifests today in this following project. In his book Cultural Apologetics, Gould
proclaims that God does not exist in some unreachable domain separated from the world
by vast space. God is an ever-present reality.19 In the Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard
reminds us that “no human institution, no time, no space, no spiritual being, no event –
stands between God and those who trust him.”20 Every hour, every minute, and every
second was leading to the divine conspiracy of God in the project director’s soul and life.
Pursuing the Lord’s calling into full-time ministry, the project director received
an honorable discharge from The United States Marine Corps in the summer of 1993.
Considering how God moves in mysterious ways, how His thoughts are not our thoughts,
and His ways are not our ways (see Isa. 55:8-9), the director's life would forever be
changed when he stepped out of serving our country into serving the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. The project director’s spiritual formation occurred through studies such as
‘Experiencing God’ and ‘Masterlife.’ Such monumental discipleship models, however,
needed an evident, intentional, long-term disciple relationship. Such a relationship should
be the model for all seeking to learn what it looks like to obey everything He has
commanded us to follow. Even though God's call was evident after leaving the Marine
Corps, what form it would take was still yet to be seen. After completing an
undergraduate degree in Church music from Hardin Simmons University and an MDiv
from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, God opened doors to serve in multiple
19 Paul Gould, Cultural Apologetics: Renewing the Christian Voice, Conscience, and Imagination
in a Disenchanted World (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Publishing 2019), 82.
20 Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscover our Hidden Life in God (New York: Harper
Collins, 1998), 67.
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ministries, including children's, families, recreation, worship, and, most extensively, as a
student pastor. The Lord used these following ministries to prepare for the task ahead that
realized its providential destiny through planting a church in Killeen, Texas.
The mystery of God became even more evident as God opened the door to start a
church next to one of the largest military installations in North America. In August of
2011, the project director and his family moved to Killeen, Texas, in a borrowed R.V. to
launch The Journey Church. The same gnawing and longing that had been present almost
twenty years earlier were growing and nearly compelling the ministry in Killeen to take
form. TJC was birthed from a deep desire to create fully formed, informed, and
transformed disciples of Christ.
Upon arriving in Killeen, Texas, the project director looked for a public square
where soldiers and their families gathered. Through divine intervention, he decided to
have lunch at Rosa’s café. Little did he know then that it was Taco Tuesday, where many
soldiers and their families gathered weekly for lunch. After building relationships with
soldiers and their families, The Journey Church launched its first ‘lights on discipleship
group.’ These groups met at 5:00 a.m. weekly to develop long-term intentional,
spiritually informed, and transformed disciples of Christ. Similar groups continue to
meet today and have spread across the globe as soldiers, and their families constantly
move to find themselves in new marketplaces. The principles learned throughout these
early days of discipleship groups will be incorporated and synthesized into the following
project, thus creating a new kind of apologist who is fully informed and transformed by
the gospel of Christ.
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In his book Relational Apologetics, Michael Sherrard states, “Apologetics is
about your life becoming a defense of the Christian faith. Every relationship one has is
an opportunity to connect people to their creator as you display your great hope.”21 Next,
let’s consider the Biblical rationale behind the project.
Hypothetical Presupposition
God’s plan “A” for the Church is for His children to make disciples, who make
disciples, then make more disciples. There is no plan “B” in God’s economy. The
hypothetical presupposition for the following project is that the church does not need
more apologetic methodologies but better formed, informed, and transformed disciples
of Christ. The presupposition for the church to make disciples is clear. The problem
arises, however, from a lack of a complete understanding of what a fully transformed
follower of Christ looks like. As it did in the first-century church, the challenge of
fulfilling the discipleship mandate both frustrates and confounds His followers today. In
his book The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer equates following Jesus to proclaiming
discipleship that will liberate humanity from all man-made dogmas, burdens, and
oppressions. According to Bonhoeffer, the question that still troubles society today is,
“What does the call of discipleship mean for its adherents, and how do we complete the
task? Does it lead to an intolerable dichotomy between one’s life as a citizen in the world
and one's life as a
21 Michael C. Sherrard, Relational Apologetics: Defending the Christian Faith with Holiness
Respect and Truth (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publishing, 2015), 14.
21
Christian?”22 With a contextual understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ
or a Christian, it is possible to fulfill the call of Christ to take up our cross daily and
follow Him as His disciples. There are two persistent enemies to the success of the
presupposition. 1) The failure to understand roles as disciples of Christ and 2) The anti-
intellectualism that has invaded post-Christian culture.
A.W. Tozer addresses the need for a better understanding of our discipleship role.
He presupposes that true disciples can only face one direction. Thus, contrary to what
Christians might proclaim to think, the problem is that God’s people are not willing to
walk in perfect agreement. According to Tozer, the question that begs an answer is, are
we ready to walk with Him in love and obedience for a lifetime?23 The informed and
transformed discipleship described here must agree that they want to walk together with
the Spirit of God. For Tozer, scripture does not distinguish between discipleship and
salvation as far as to have one without the other.24 One cannot claim to be a Christian and
fail to be a disciple; the two are synonymous with one another, not mutually exclusive.
Another obstacle to realizing the hypothetical presupposition is developing a more
carefully formed intellect.
Moreland contends that one must first defeat what he calls the empty self and take
back what insecurity and fear of losing control have taken from us. Thus, a society filled
22 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster,
Touchstone Edition, 1955), 37-38.
23 Tozer, Discipleship, 71.
24 Ibid., 75.
22
with the open self is a morally bankrupt and intellectually shallow society.25 Therefore,
Moreland rightly postulates that if someone is overly individualistic, infantile, and
narcissistic, what will that person read, if they read at all? The author goes on to contend
that such a person will read Christian self-help books filled with self-serving content.26
Morland uses the illustration of the placebo effect. He argued that “unfortunately, the
placebo works due to the patient’s naïve, misinformed, false beliefs. Many people have
worldview placebos that are wrong, naïve, misinformed beliefs that allow them to live in
a safe fantasy world of their creation.”27 By nature, people want to be comforted that
their former presuppositions about questions dealing with life, values, and beliefs are
true.
Living a life filled, however, with a placebo effect of truth and not the objective truth is
no truth. This brings one back to how to develop a better-formed and transformed
intellect.
Over the past decade of ministry, the project director continues to hear professing
disciples of Christ declare that all they need is Jesus. The motivation behind such a
declaration is a case study of the placebo effect. Such a declaration identifies the lack of
understanding of what it means to be a disciple who makes disciples of Christ.
According to author and theologian Victor Raymond Edman, “discipleship means
discipline.” Edman declares, “The denial of all, including ourselves, is the deepest
discipline of
25 J.P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of The Soul
(Colorado Springs, Co: NavPress, 2012),117.
26 Ibid., 108.
23
27 Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind, 114.
24
discipleship.”28 Such a weighty proposition only ends once we see Christ face to face. So,
the statement that all we need is Jesus is partially correct in that when we are saved, we
get Jesus. Upon receiving Jesus, however, one also receives His Holy Spirit, who
continues to complete His work in us until the day we see Him face to face (see Phil.
1:6). Such a statement does not suggest an anti-intellectual follower but someone who has
spent a lifetime learning everything possible about his Lord and Savior. The following
pages of this project seek to untangle the web of the anti-intellectual mind, creating a
better-informed and transformed follower of Christ. Now, let’s consider how to identify
and contextualize the purpose of the following project.
Purpose Statement
The following project aims to develop a ministry strategy for The Journey Church
to grow a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. The type of apologetics that
will create a new kind of apologist begins and ends with a proper understanding of what
discipleship is and is not. Part of this new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture
requires that we debunk the past anti-intellectual precepts of the post-Christian culture.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once commented in the preface of his book Discipleship that “Jesus
calls us not to a new kind of religion but to a new kind of life.”28
The concept of truth has ceased to be the goal and priority of culture today. Gould
asserts in his book Cultural Apologetics that one lives in a disenchanted world that has
28 V. Raymond Edman, “The Discipline of Discipleship: Knowing and Doing,”
cslewisinstitute.org, March 5, 2012, http:// https://cslewisinstitute.org/resources/the-discipline-of-
discipleship.
25
lost the ability and power of the imagination. He points to how C.S. Lewis used fiction to
engage perception in two ways. First, where are you standing? What story of all the
implausible stories that give meaning to life have you embraced? Secondly, what sort of
person do you want to be? Gould explains that the model for re-enchantment of the
world begins when one starts to see the world the way Jesus does and then invites others
to enter the story of God. The author describes the characteristics of the disenchanted.29
Experience everything once held dear and valued as sacred now finds itself up for
grabs.”30
Conclusion
Today, the church must ask how to reignite the disenchantment of Christian
society with the great mystery of God that has been lost or misplaced. First, it begins
with engaging the current Christian culture with long-term purposeful discipleship
relationships. The second is to debunk the contemporary culture’s malformed idea of
‘what it means to be a disciple of Christ.’ Third, the current culture’s lack of motivation
toward biblical knowledge must be reignited. Therefore, as Michael Sherrard points out
in his book Relational Apologetics,” Apologetics is about one’s life becoming a defense
of the Christian faith. Every relationship can connect people to their creator as they
‘share the great hope within them because of Jesus Christ’ (see 1 Pet. 3:15).”31
29 Disenchanted: No longer happy, pleased, or satisfied: disappointed, dissatisfied.
30 Gould, 26.
31 Sherrard, 14.
26
CHAPTER 2
BIBLICAL RATIONALE
The Biblical rationale for the following project incorporates three different
scriptures that appear inseparably linked regarding the call to fulfill one’s identity as a
disciple on a mission for the kingdom of God. The first text for consideration is Matthew
28:18-20, Jesus’s final parting words to His disciples to go and make disciples of all
nations as recorded by Matthew, an apostle of Christ. The second text for consideration is
Acts 17:22-28, Paul’s defense in Athens according to the record of Luke, who recounts
the acts of the early church. The final text for consideration is 1 Peter 3:15, the
quintessential verse quoted among Christians when considering the believer’s call to
apologetics. While each text has context and settings for which it is written, they all apply
to develop a new ministry strategy to grow a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian
culture.
The following texts break through the illusion and perception of immediacy in the
discipleship relationship rather than the lengthy process of true transformation. Dietrich
Bonhoeffer contends that “people called by Jesus lived an illusion in their relationship to
the world; the illusion is immediacy.” According to Bonhoeffer, the illusion of
immediacy has blocked faith and obedience.1 Bonhoeffer also contends that there can be
no unmediated relationships, even in life’s most intimate relationships. Christ mediates
all discipleship relationships; He stands between the believer and all other relationships.
Thus, the call for discipleship no longer includes a genuine tie to the created world.
There
1 Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, 62.
27
is no true love for the world except the love with which God has loved us.2 The first text
to consider shows how, for the disciple, all God-given realities only exist through Jesus
Christ and His calling us out of the world into a relationship with Him. Therefore, God’s
call to discipleship does not end with the individual; it extends to the whole world. Next,
this chapter will examine how the call to be a disciple is an eschatological calling for
securing one’s destination.
The Eschatological Call to Discipleship
From eternity past to eternity present and eternity future, few words have so
radically formed and shaped the course of church history and humanity than those of the
Great Commission. Jesus’s disciples ran to the tomb on Easter morning to find their
Messiah had risen from the dead. The tomb was empty, and after forty days of appearing
to His followers, Jesus met the eleven disciples outside of Bethany at the Mt. of Olives.
This would differ, however, from Jesus’s other meetings with His disciples. Jesus would
unfold the church's ongoing mission, historically known as the Great Commission. The
commission is excellent due to the authority of the sender. The power of Christ becomes
displayed through the obedience of His people. D.A. Carson concludes in his book Christ
and Culture Revisited that “The claim that all authority belongs to Jesus is the promise
that He will reign until He has put all of His enemies under His feet as Paul proclaims in
1 Corinthians 15:25.” Carson goes on to contend that Christian faith in the New
2 Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, 63.
28
Testament, while highly personal, was never meant to stay private. The intention was for
the larger culture to experience it.3
Go and Make Disciples
The first imperative in the Great Commission is to “go and make disciples of all
nations.” According to Goheen and Bartholomew in their book Living at The
Crossroads, one must first consider how to live faithfully under the broad authority of
God’s Word, considering the worldview aspect of discipleship.4 How do we embrace the
all- encompassing renewal and, at the same time, live within cultures where other
worldviews and powers are dominant? Why is a proper understanding of eschatology5 so
essential to discipleship? For the faithful follower of Christ to fully understand what it
looks like to live obediently in various cultural contexts, disciples must have a greater
understanding of biblical history and time. Trevin Wax points out in his book
Eschatological Discipleship that “the only way for the fulfillment of the Great
Commission to take place is for disciples to take the gospel to the nations, a gospel that
cannot and must not, be diluted among competing worldviews.”6 The heart of the Great
Commission is eschatological. Newbigin declares in his book Foolishness to the Greeks,
“The gospel is
3 D.A. Carson, Christ, and Culture Revisited (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans Publishing, 2008),
170.
4 Michael W. Goheen, and Craig G. Bartholomew, Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to
Christian Worldview (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008), 58. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
5 Eschatology: The word eschatology stems from the Greek word eschaton, meaning “last” or
“final,” and pertains to the study of the last or the end of things—namely, the end times or the final
judgment and destiny of humanity.
6 Trevin K. Wax, Eschatological Discipleship: Leading Christians to Understand their Historical
and Cultural Context (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2018) 51, Kindle.
29
the good news of the kingdom, and the kingdom is an eschatological concept.”7 The
better-formed disciple of Christ understands the complete picture of eschatological
history and how the good news of salvation arrives in and through biblical and historical
events. In his work Theology of Hope, Moltmann correctly says, "the eschatological
outlook is characteristic of all Christian proclamation, and of every Christian that has
ever lived.”8 We tell new believers what they have been saved from; however, we rarely
show them what they find themselves committed to in Christ. When Christians fail to
understand their identity within salvation’s more excellent story, they miss the call to the
nations. The command to take the gospel to the nations is the announcement of Jesus’s
crucifixion and resurrection, which is undoubtedly eschatological.
Teach Them to Obey
The second imperative in making disciples is to teach them to obey all Christ has
commanded. Three participles surround the essential to go and make disciples: going,
baptizing, and teaching. Craig Keener makes it clear in his Commentary on the Book of
Matthew. Keener contends, “We must place ‘teaching’ within the broader context of
Matthew’s gospel as making the kind of disciples that Jesus made to carry on His mission
of proclaiming and demonstrating His kingdom or rulership to the world.”9 This teaching
7 Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness of the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (Grand Rapids:
Mich: Eerdmans Publishing, 1986), 134. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
8 Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope: On the Ground and Implications of a Christian
Eschatology (Minneapolis, Minn: Fortress Press, 1993), 16.
9 Craig Keener, Matthew, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1999), 718.
30
is essential in an unbeliever’s transference from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom
of light. Darrell Gruder expresses this transference in his book Missional Church:
Those who hear the good news and want to become citizens of the reign of God
will need teaching. As a holy nation, the church has a culture, an
accepted way of doing things, and a specialized vocabulary to talk about life
under the rule and reign of God that does not come naturally. It is different just
from being civil or being a good person. It requires loyalty to a new ruler. It
demands that we acquire the new habits of a new culture. New people need to
become “naturalized” citizens of the reign of God, and teaching is a part of the
naturalization process.10
The Great Commission's teaching is geared towards obedience, not merely telling
someone to obey. Instead, The Great Commission teaches them how to be obedient. The
call to obedience points to a model of intentional apprenticeship. The word μαθητής
(methetes), meaning pupil or student, appears more than 250 times in the New Testament.
In the simplest terms, a disciple is a student or learner who follows someone’s teaching,
becoming more like one’s teacher. Michael Ziggarelli, in the “Christian Scholars
Review,” contends that “discipleship” did not begin with Christianity (except in the sense
of Christianity towards Christlikeness). Ziggarelli states, “One can find discipleship
systems through mentorship or apprenticeship in many pre-Christian societies.
Discipleship permeated Greek life, with a person ‘following a master’ among the
approaches of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, and well-beyond, five centuries
before Jesus walked the earth.”11 Zigarelli points to scriptural pictures of mentorship in
10 Darrell Guder, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 137, Kindle.
11 Micheal Zigarelli, “A Typology of Christian Discipleship Methods,” Zigarelli, (blog), Christian
Scholars Review, January 5, 2023, https://christianscholars.com/a-typology-of-christian-discipleship-
methods/.
31
the examples of Moses and Joshua or Elijah and Elisha. In Jesus’s day, the Pharisees
followed the same life-on-life template Rabbis had for centuries, as did John the Baptist
and even zealots as they prepared to battle against Rome.12 Consider one of the post-
resurrection examples of mentorship; according to Edward Smither's book Augustine as
Mentor, Augustine had a multifaceted approach to mentorship that included spiritual
direction, encouragement, rebuke, discipline, practical advice, and exhortation for
maintaining sound doctrine. At the same time, Augustine employed more of an arms-
length approach than Jesus’s live-in mentorship style. This mentorship style often
included letters, church councils, teaching in the monastery, and personal visits.
According to Smither, Augustine’s approach offers disciple-making inspiration to equally
busy church members for the modern day.13 David Bosch, in his book Transforming
Mission, professes that the model of apprenticeship in the Great Commission implies that
discipleship takes place in the world, not just the church service.14 The project director
contends that Jesus’s disciples would have understood this teaching method as modeled
by their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this type of teaching is missing
from many of our ministry models today because it is both time-consuming and wrought
with life’s difficulties.
12 Zigarelli.
13 Edward L. Smither, Augustine as Mentor: A Model for Preparing Spiritual Leaders (Nashville:
B&H Academic, 2008), 2012. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
14 David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology and Mission, American
Society of Missiology Series, No. 16, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991), 68.
32
According to Gary Tyra in A Missional Orthodoxy, “obeying Christ’s command
and discerning the times and the best course of action requires wisdom. On the one hand,
disciple-making requires contextualization at the evangelism level. The Christian seeks to
(exegete) fully understand their ministry context, offering a compelling gospel
presentation.”15 On the other hand, discipleship requires contextualization at the
obedience level “as Christians seek to discern God’s purpose and be obedient to it among
all the difficulties of life.”16 The church is living in the already but not yet part of church
history. We are already saved from sin and death but not fully complete as His sanctified
Church without spot or blemish. The Church's faithful witness in the world is a witness to
another kingdom. The witness of the Church is why Christians are in the world but not of
the world. Obedience marks itself in anticipation of Christ’s return. We are reminded in
Revelation 12:11 that we have already conquered the world by the blood of the Lamb and
the word of our testimony. Therefore, we fight from the position of victory, not failure.
Unfortunately, many of those at The Journey Church have failed to take hold of this
reality. Trevin Wax reminds one that “discipleship is no less than recognizing the
kingdom’s presence and trading in one’s agendas for the kingdom agenda of Jesus
Christ.”17 The project director agrees with Dave Earley, who contends in his book
Evangelistic Reproduction that discipleship is obedience to Christ. Since evangelism is
part of that obedience, no true disciple-making occurs apart from calling others to
15 Gary Tyra, A Missional Orthodoxy: Theology and Ministry in a Post-Christian Context
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2013, 35. Tyra calls this a “missional approach to ministry.”
16 Newbigin, Foolishness, 60.
17 Wax, 55.
33
faith.”18 Jesus clarifies that disciple-making is incomplete until the disciple is practicing
everything that Jesus has commanded, including the command to make more disciples.
Next, we will consider how he is always with us to the end of the age.
He is Always with Us
The third eschatological promise in the Great Commission is Christ’s presence at
the end of the age. In his book Images of the Church in the New Testament, Paul Minear
points to “Paul’s comparison of the church to soldiers. In a foreign land, a heavenly and
earthly community, with citizenship in a future city.”19 Michael Bird explains:
The church is the new community called out from the world into what is the
beginning of the new age. The resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit
mean that God's new world has begun, the future has partially invaded the
present, the seeds of the new creation have already started budding in the old
garden, and God's victory on the cross is now beginning to claim back territory in
a world enslaved by sin. The first Christians saw themselves as the vanguard of a
new redeemed humanity that God created in Jesus Christ. For this reason, we can
regard the church as an eschatological community.20
According to the project director, the greater difficulty for discipling in the post-Christian
era is reprogramming the learner that this world is not their home. The assurance of
Christ’s presence at the end of the age is a continual reminder that God’s new world has
begun, and this world is passing away daily. John recalls in 1 John 2:15 that we are not to
love the world, and if one does, the love of the Father is not in us. Notice that John does
18 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Introduction: Fulfilling the Great Commission in Disciple
Making Is: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman
and Holman, 2013), 5.
19 Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John
Knox Press, 1960; republished, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 61.
20 Michael Bird, Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 728.
34
not write that we are supposed to love the world less; he firmly proclaims that we are not
to love the world at all. The sense of urgency for a complete transformation from the
world of darkness into the kingdom of light is a crucial aspect missing from many of our
discipleship models today. Many discipleship models lean towards behavior modification
rather than true-life transformation. It's time we shift our focus from behavior
modification to true-life transformation, as this is the essence of our discipleship. Next,
we will consider the believer’s place in the world’s marketplace of ideas, as exemplified
in Paul’s trip to Athens.
Christianity in the Marketplace of Ideas
While Paul was waiting for Timothy and Silas to arrive in Athens, his “spirit was
provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols” (see Acts 17:16). Paul could never
sit idle in a town filled with pagans and idols without taking the opportunity to reason
with such a society and its people. After spending time in the synagogue with the Jews
and in the marketplace with Epicurean and Stoic Philosophers, Paul’s attempt to reason in
the market of ideas quickly landed him in the Areopagus—where the most extraordinary
thinkers gathered. In some Christian circles, the Areopagus address is regarded as a well-
meaning apologetic experiment. After all, it did result in the conversion of two
distinguished Athenians and their entourage, but some might contend that it was never to
be repeated by Paul. What should one make of this one-off apologetic method Paul
deployed in Athens? Some argue that Paul’s Areopagus approach to Christian apologetics
is not a prerequisite for today’s apologetics. Does Paul not conclude in 1 Corinthians 2:2
that he determined to know nothing else about the Corinthians other than Jesus Christ
and
35
Him crucified? What can one gather from the Areopagus experience compared with
Paul’s further evangelical endeavors? Should it be concluded that Paul never resolved
again to attempt such an approach in his ministry?
Engaging the Contemporary Culture
In his journal article “Introducing the Athenians to God: Paul’s failed apologetic
in Acts 17,” Winter suggests that Paul’s defense at the Areopagus provides a biblical
pattern for engaging contemporary culture and its approach to the non-Christian world in
the following five ways: (1) Paul’s essential point of contact with the Athenian audience;
(2) his correction of their misconception about introducing his God to Athens; (3) his
conversing with the religious views of his hearers; (4) his critique of their compromise
with worship in temples, and (5) his call for them to repent.21 Luke contends that some
hearers felt he was a charlatan, while others said, “He appears to be a herald of foreign
deities.” In his book Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion, Garland
suggests the following as to what the divinity’s herald needed to secure his god’s
recognition.
A convenient forum in which to advertise the benefits of a new god and, hence to
drum up popular support would have been a public meeting place such as the Agora, the
civic, administrative, and commercial heart of the city and a popular venue for all those
21 Bruce W. Winter, “Introducing the Athenians to God: Paul’s failed apologetics in Acts 17,”
Volume 31, Issue 1, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/introducing-the-athenians-to-god-
pauls-failed-apologetic-in-acts-17/.
36
who wished to exchange ideas.22 According to Garland, one of the long-established tasks
of the Council of the Areopagites was to examine the proofs a herald might offer to
support his claim that a new deity existed.23
In their book, The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas, Copan, and Litwak defend
why the sermon records in Acts are usually different. The presupposition is that they
addressed different audiences in various situations. Much like Jesus did in the Gospels,
He would sometimes mention sin and a call for repentance and appeal to people’s felt
needs by offering rest for the weary (see Mt. 11:28-30). Such appeals resulted in setting
free those in bondage (see Jn. 4:13-14; 6:35) or finding abundant life (see Jn. 10:10),
much different from how He approached the Samaritan woman (see Jn.4).24 According to
Bruce, in his book Paul: Apostle of the Hearts Set Free, statistics show that most
Christians have embraced the gospel because, first, the building of a relationship of trust,
and, second, they found out that the gospel met a felt need.25 Thus, if we want to be more
effective at communicating our faith, we should consider the example of Jesus and the
apostles, who took the context and concerns of their audiences seriously. When we do
this, according to Copan and Litwak, we treat our culture as unique, beloved image
bearers of God.26
Understanding the Audience
Paul started by addressing where the Athenians were in their societal structure.
He moved beyond it, however, bringing them a different understanding of God. He did
not
22 Robert Garland, Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion (London:
Duckworth, 1992), 18-19.
23 Garland, in his work Introducing New Gods, contends, “The role continued into the Roman
period. If the Council found itself persuaded, the god or goddess received an invitation to the Parthenon, a
dedicated temple to divinity, and an annual feast day endowed and included in the Athenians’ religious
calendar. Furthermore, in this ‘land most dear to the gods,’ the approval or disapproval of a new god in
Athens set a precedent for other Greek cities well beyond Athens’ imperial period and into Roman times.”
24 Paul Copan and Kenneth Litwak, The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul’s Mars Hill
Experience for Our Pluralistic Society, (Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 2014), 74.
25 F.F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 248.
26 Copan and Litwak, 75.
37
attempt to restructure Christian theology into Stoicism or another Greek philosophy.27
Paul understood the old saying, “One shoe does not fit all.” Paul observed that, in
general, most believers in Jesus, at least in Corinth, are not in the category of the
intellectual elite as those at the Areopagus.28 He asked the Corinthians, “For consider
your calling, brothers, and sisters, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not
many powerful, not many high born (see 1 Cor. 1:16).” Paul does not conclude, however,
that one should ever ignore the wise, powerful, or those of high social and political
status.29 The project director concludes that even though Paul is most likely speaking to
people who make up the minority of those who have put their faith in Jesus as their
Messiah, Paul does contend in 1 Corinthians 9:22, “To the weak I became weak, that I
might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might save some.”
Therefore, Paul’s end goal was to see all people come to a living faith in Jesus Christ our
Lord despite their race, culture, or socio-economic background.
The Art of Persuasion
Paul incorporated the art of persuasion by providing a different view of God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer contends in his book Act and Being: Transcendental Philosophy and
Ontology in Systematic Theology that as fallen beings with darkened minds, humans
27 Copan and Litwak, 89.
28 Ibid., 91.
29 The gospel is implied in Paul’s speech at Lystra (as at Athens): “In the past generations, He
allowed all generations to walk in their own ways” (see Acts 14:26). Compare with Acts 17:30, where
Jesus specifically mentioned: “the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people
everywhere to repent.”
38
inevitably will picture God “as they have fashioned him in their presumption” and thus
worship “a figment and dream of their own heart.”30 Paul saw that the remedy to such
tendencies is to define how things are considering God rather than ourselves. Gould
suggests “that in a disenchanted culture, our relentless hearts and minds seek satisfaction,
solace, or love in anything other than God.” Thus, people and things are considered
discardable and disposable commodities.31 In his essay “Cognitive Idolatry and Divine
Hiding,” Paul Moser suggests that “idolatry is inherently a rejection of God’s authority
and a quest for self-definition, self-importance, and self-fulfillment on our terms.”32 Paul
seeks to find a culturally relevant starting point to introduce the God of the Bible.
Copan and Litwak point to the fact that Paul begins his persuasive speech by
showing his knowledge of classical rhetoric to win over his audience, ranging from the
curious to the hostile. Paul attempts to get the attention of his audience when he makes
the all-important statement, “In every way, I perceive that you are very religious.”33
Paul’s clear gospel plan is to attract his audience with something they might have viewed
as a compliment instead of a reprimand. Paul understood the age-old saying, “You catch
more flies with honey than vinegar.” This means it is more effective to be polite and
flattering than to be hostile or demanding. Perhaps Paul knew they would not have
30 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Act and Being: Transcendental Philosophy and Ontology in Systematic
Theology, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 2, ed. Wayne Whitsun Floyd and Hans-Richard Reuter
(Minneapolis, Fortress, 1996), 89.
31 Gould, 61.
32 Paul K. Moser, “Cognitive Idolatry and Divine Hiding,” in Divine Hiddenness: New Essays, ed.
Daniel Howard-Snyder and Paul K. Moser (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 130.
33 Copan and Litwak, 121.
39
known the source of any Scriptural quotations or verses from the Old Testament. Copan
and Litwak contend that quoting Scripture would have been as helpful as “quoting John
3:16 today without taking time to help the listener understand what is meant by God,
believing in Jesus, eternal life, perishing, and more.”34 In his book Theology as
Discipleship, Keith Johnston rightly points out that Paul attempts to reframe his
audience’s reality. Paul masterfully unveils how their understanding remains faulty due to
only being able to picture God according to the “imagination of mortals.”35 For Johnston,
“The challenge is to recognize that this same God also has entered into created history
through Jesus Christ.”36 Therefore, they should abandon their self-derived perceptions of
divinity and look to Christ to figure out the true nature of God, reality, and history.37
Thomas Aquinas postulates, “Paul’s trip to Athens provides the perfect example of the
traditional approach to the relationship between the divine and human action that
undergirds this idea.” He argues that because every created thing lives, moves, and has its
being in God (Acts 17:28), “God is necessarily internally present in any active thing,
active in it, as it were, when he moves it to act.”38
34 Copan and Litwak, 122.
35 Keith L. Johnson, Theology as Discipleship (Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 2015), 44.
36 Ibid., 44.
37 Ibid.
38 Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology, trans. Richard j. Regan (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2009), 103.
40
The internal presence of God assumes that every creaturely action takes place through the
presence and power of God.39 Finally, we will consider the call in 1 Peter 3:15 to “always
be ready to give a defense,” viewing the Christian church on trial.
Christianity on Trial
The more excellent picture of 1 Peter 3:15 rests on the fact that the Christian life
is constantly on trial before a Gentile, pagan, unbelieving world. Peter begins this section
in verse 13, highlighting the problem of persecution by unbelievers. Although this theme
is hinted at in Peter's epistle, this is the first time Peter deals with persecution as his
primary focus. There is also an evident and apparent unstated reality that those who
follow Christ are outsiders. Followers of Christ are outsiders, and the noticeable them vs.
us motif sets up the call in 1 Peter 3:15. Voddie Baucham contends in his book
Expository Apologetics that “the power structure that we are in determines whose
standard of righteousness will one follow. As a result, our righteousness is considered
inappropriate and unwelcome."40 Thus, as believers, we are “sojourners and exiles.” Peter
asserts in verse 13 that our righteousness, without a doubt, will bring opposition and
suffering. Peter introduces the best-known apologetic text in the Bible, from which we
derive the word apologetics (apologia). One must connect the overall theme expressed
earlier in the following text:
39 Aquinas, in his work Compendium of Theology, contends: “This reality does not render human
action meaningless, as if God were the sole and direct cause of everything a human does. Humans can and
do act freely by their rational capacities. They do so because God works out his providential plan through
intermediate secondary causes that can occur contingently, meaning that they can occur by or in
contradiction to God’s providential plan or threaten its fulfillment.” 104.
40 Baucham, 41.
41
For to this, you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you
an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither
was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return;
when he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who
judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to
sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:21-
24)
We know that Peter is speaking of more than making Christians feel
uncomfortable. He calls them to the suffering and death Christ experienced at sinful
humanity's hands. Baucham expresses that:
Apologetics is not a tool to make people like or accept us. This is, however, how
many of us attempt to engage the world. If we can make the correct
argument, refute the right falsehood, and give the proper facts, people will come
running to bow their knees and accept Christ. Instead of acting as the tool to
alleviate the tension between us and the world; apologetics often increases such
tension.41
The Devotion of the Heart
The first clause in verse 15, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,”
pertains to the responsibility of every follower of Christ regarding one’s heart. In his
commentary on 1 Peter, R.C. Sproul interjects that the Jewish thought regarding this
passage is not that “our thoughts determine how we live; this goes beyond the intellect
and penetrates to the core of our humanity, which is our heart.”42 The apostle Peter is
adapting the prophet's words in Isaiah 8:13: "But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor
as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” Simon Kistemaker observes in
41 Baucham, 43.
42 R.C. Sproul, St. Andrews Expositional Commentary: 1-2 Peter (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2011),
95, Kindle.
42
his commentary on Matthew that “In his day, Isaiah told the people not to fear the
invading Assyrian armies but to revere God. Therefore, in his epistle, Peter has the same
encouraging message in mind.”43 Kistemaker suggests that Peter changes Isaiah’s
wording by honoring Christ the Lord Almighty as holy.44 Thus, Christ is not to be
honored among other gods. He is the only true God to be glorified and sanctified over
and above any other. The more critical reason why Peter wrote this first clause is that
most Christians do not engage in apologetics from a position of Godly fear. From the
project director’s experience, more people at The Journey Church operate from a place
of fear of man over God. Therefore, the fear of man is a more significant motivator than
that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Sproul points out that "the priority of the heart
over the mind spells itself out in the following text, where the apostle tells us that we are
to sanctify our hearts to the Lord. Sanctify means 'to set apart' or consecrate in the act of
devotion. The apostle Paul instructs us to present our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom.
12:1). Thus, the apostle Peter concludes that the priority for one to grow in their faith is
to set their hearts entirely and fully on Jesus Christ.
Every Reason
Peter continues by instructing his audience to “Always be prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with
gentleness and respect” (v.15). The text tells us that we are always to be "ready." The
43 Simon J. Kistemaker, James, “Epistle of John, Peter, and Jude: New Testament Commentary”
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1986), 134.
44 Ibid.
43
project director’s son Troy is an Eagle Scout, and he first learned the Boy Scout motto,
be prepared, which means that a Boy Scout should always be in a state of readiness in
mind and body to do their duty. Such preparation in this context orients itself around
giving a defense or reason for the hope inside each follower of Christ. Unfortunately, in
the project director’s observation, there are few believers who, if asked, could give a
clear, coherent defense of their faith. For example, if one’s neighbor says, "I have
understood that you are a Christian. What is it that you believe, or what makes your
belief the correct belief?"
Sproul contends that some Christians respond that they “simply take a leap of
faith with no bother about the credibility or the rational character of the truth claims of
the Bible.”45 Such a response, however, goes against the text: the only leap of faith we
will take is out of the darkness and into the light. The English translation, "a defense," in
Greek, translates as an apologia, from which we get the word apologetics. Therefore,
every Christian should prepare themselves to engage in apologetics. Sproul concludes,
“When we become Christians, we do not leave our brains in the parking lot.”46 We are
called to think Biblically, according to the Word of God, to seek the mind of Christ, and
to understand the things He has outlined in Scripture.47 Baucham contends that “Peter
assumes that the righteousness which sets us apart from a world without Christ will
45 Sproul, 97.
46 Ibid., 98.
47 Baucham, 44.
44
eventually raise questions in the unbeliever’s minds.”48 Due to this reality, all believers
must know what they believe and understand why they believe what they think.
Baucham rightly states:
There is a substance to our faith that goes beyond what we feel. It is
tangible and measurable. It can be defined, memorized, and defended. The
source is outside of us and available to all. It is the apostolic record of the
persona and work of Christ.49
Two observations about the text: 1) Our defense takes place within the context of the
gospel community; 2) Our defense takes place from the margin of society, not the center.
In their book Everyday Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis contend that 1
Peter 3:15 is one of the most challenging passages for most of the introverted, non-
evangelistic church population. Chester and Timmis proclaim that those raised in the
Western Church inevitably are pre-conditioned to read the Bible from an individualistic
mindset because our culture is hyper-individualistic. Thus, every time we read “you,” we
assume it means “I.”50 Peter intends to use the pronoun “we,” not merely because more
than one person finds themselves addressed but because Peter speaks to his audience as a
community. The project director agrees with Chester and Timmis's conclusion that 1
Peter 3:15 is a culmination of the line of thought that begins with Peter saying: "Finally,
all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be
compassionate and humble" (v.8). Thus, in contrast to our self-serving society, we are to
48 Baucham, 45.
49 Ibid.
50 Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission (Wheaton,
Ill: Crossway, 2012), 103.
45
live in harmony with one another in such a way that it provokes the question in verse
15.51 While one can do apologetics independently, it should not be our primary method.
Apologetics in the context of the gospel community is where it thrives and grows.
In his book The Church in Exile, Beach contends that for the first time in Peter’s
narrative, he intends to incorporate words as his missional strategy. Peter continues to
encourage a subversive, missional engagement that employs testimony rooted in personal
piety, answering the inquirers’ questions with gentleness and respect. 52Despite their
position as a marginalized minority, the call to declare their faith when given the
opportunity should still be the expectation. According to Beach, this method may grate
against the sensibilities of some who grew up in the era of door-to-door evangelism and
large evangelistic crusades. Therefore, ministry from the margins rather than from the
center requires a shift in understanding how one's mission carries itself out effectively.
With Gentleness and Respect
We are all called to be ready to give a reasonable answer for our faith. Not only
are we instructed to know what we believe and why we believe it, but to give an answer
gently and respectfully. Sproul suggests that "when we engage in debates and arguments,
we sometimes allow ourselves to be overcome with the heat of the moment and generate
more heat than life."53 The place where the project director’s family frequently eats
51 Chester and Timmis, 104.
52 Lee Beach, The Church in Exile: Living in Hope After Christendom (Downers Grove, Il:
InterVarsity Press, 2015), 134, Kindle.
53 Sproul, 106.
46
Sunday lunch is surrounded by people with bullhorns yelling out scripture from the curb
to passing cars. How does such a tactic apply to Peter’s concept of evangelistic
apologetics? Verses 16 and 17 conclude that we should have a good conscience; when
slandered, we should not be reviled for bad conduct but for good. The basic premise is
that it is better to suffer for doing good than bad. Bachaum concludes, “There is a
difference between being firm and forceful in our approach and exercising gentleness and
respect. Gentleness is not a lack of strength but strength under control.”54 Thus, we
should always give our defense as though we are constantly aware that God is watching.
Notice that Peter frames suffering on either side of 1 Peter 3:15, thus making it clear that
he is not offering a means by which Christians might dominate the discussion, overthrow
the empire, or change public opinion. Ultimately, apologetics answers how and why we
are ready to suffer for Christ’s sake. Chester and Timmis suggest that giving a gentle and
respectful response requires that we remember that God is in control of the mission.55 As
Paul contends in Colossians 4:5, our goal is to “make the most of every opportunity.”
Our goal is to live good and attractive lives under the Lordship of Christ that provoke
questions in the culture in which we live. Chester and Timmis remind us of our place and
the Holy Spirit’s place in evangelism:
Trust the Holy Spirit to work on their hearts. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate
evangelist. He and He alone persuade people of the truth. He convicts of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. He opens blind eyes. He melts hard hearts. And the
wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit is that He is always right.56
54 Baucham, 46.
55 Chester and Timmis, 112.
56 Ibid., 113.
47
Therefore, we trust the Holy Spirit to lead, call, and direct our response when confronted
with questions demanding an answer.
Conclusion
The message of our discipleship as an apologetic remains the same. The calling
of every believer is to go into the world and make disciples by always being ready to
deploy the reason behind the gospel we proclaim and defend. The goal in one’s
preparation is to share a vision of the Christian faith that is reasonable and desirable,
offering clarity for those who have become lost and disoriented in the haze of our
modern Western culture. The church must continually remind people that it is not home
in this world and cannot find its way home alone. The biblical rationale for the following
project is summed up best in what C.S. Lewis once said at the end of his book Mere
Christianity. Lewis indicated that if we look for ourselves, we will only find hatred,
loneliness, and despair. If you look for Christ, however, you will see Him and everything
else our heart has been looking for.57 The gospel will always bring us home. The Journey
begins when we stop seeking self and seek the living God.
57 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 227.
48
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
At TJC, we require all those desiring church memberships to go through the
"Discover the Journey" membership class. Upon completing the study, one must briefly
describe one's conversion experience. Everyone concludes the course by answering,
"What is the Gospel?" The person's response speaks to their basic understanding of the
nature of God and His relationship to humanity. There is no expectation that each person
will produce a profound, resounding theological answer. Somewhere, hopefully, one
should hear about an understanding of our sinful nature, the need for a Savior, and, at the
same time, a moment of repenting and turning to God. Sadly, we rarely see these listed
when describing the gospel message; such a glaring fact that besets the church today is
the guiding impetus behind the following project.
There needs to be a more profound look at what makes a true disciple of Christ
and how the church today views discipleship. One could even venture to say that the
recent decline of the Church in Western Culture and those going apostate within the
Church supports the following premise. William Lane Craig proposes a more significant
issue in his book Reasonable Faith, conceding that “Christian theology must treat in its
doctrine of man what has found itself called ‘the human predicament.’”58 That is the
significance of human life in a post-theistic world. The issue that has become lost at TJC
is the absurdity of life without God. Unfortunately, most people, if they honestly
58 William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics (Wheaton, Ill:
Crossway Publishing, 2008), 65.
49
responded to the question of whether they could imagine a life without God, would
answer yes. Thus, the challenge we face in culture today is creating a new kind of
apologist in a post-Christian culture.
History of Practice
The Challenge of Culture
Many church leaders and experts emphasize the importance of creating the right
culture.59 At the beginning of a church plant, the planter makes a prospectus that projects
the culture that he desires to inspire, cultivate, and promote throughout the initial
gathering phase of the new church. The factor that fails to be acknowledged is the chaos
of what people bring with them – from very different backgrounds, cultures, and family
origins. The challenge is how one shapes this mixed-matched, radically different culture
to operate as the culture of Jesus’s family. The early days of TJC revealed several
significant cultural challenges:
The challenge of expressive individualism (the predominant worldview of
today’s society),
The challenge of Christian Morality (the sexual revolution changed the
moral standard).
The fragmentation challenge (polarization arising from social and
doctrinal changes).
59 Paul Hiebert defines culture as “the more or less integrated systems of ideas, feelings, and
values and their associated patterns of behavior and products shared by a group of people who organize and
regulate what they think, feel and do.” Paul G. Hiebert, Anthropological Insights for Missionaries (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1985), 30.
50
These cultural challenges at TJC have contributed to the need for a new kind of apologist
for a post-Christian culture. The following cultural issues are revealed from the lens
through which one views the world and themselves.
Review of Literature
Expressive individualism
In The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman contends that “we are
all expressive individuals. Just as some choose to identify themselves by their sexual
orientation, so the religious person chooses to be a Christian or a Muslim.”60 Trueman
further suggests that this should raise the question of why society finds some choices
legitimate and others irrelevant or unacceptable.61 According to Robert Bellah in Habits
of the Hearts, one of the predominant traits of contemporary culture is its unmitigated
reference to the value of the individual self.62 First, one should consider the language
associated with expressive individualism: ‘You be you; be true to yourself; follow your
heart; find yourself.’ The Christian perspective is drawn from the innate duty and
responsibility of all believers to place the needs of others as more significant than
themselves (see Phil. First, one should consider the language associated with expressive
individualism: ‘You be you; be true to yourself; follow your heart; find yourself.’ With
such an emergence of self-realization and autonomy, the obligation for someone to
60 Carl Trueman, The Rise, and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive
Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution, (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2020), 25).
61 Ibid.
62 Robert N. Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life
(New York, Harper, and Row, 1985), viii.
51
sacrifice themselves for the good of another is replaced by a sense of duty for one to
respect the perceived separateness of another. The Christian perspective is drawn from
the innate duty and responsibility of all believers to place the needs of others as more
significant than themselves (see Phil. 2:3).63 Bellah contends that in the language of
expressive individualism,64 Self-love and Neighbor-love operate as mutually exclusive
options: either Self-love must be achieved and protected at the expense of neighbor-love,
or neighbor-love followed, resulting in the loss of self-love. 65
In his book Post-Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, Gene
Veith contends that the dominant worldview rejects the possibility of objective truth.
Veith writes, “We have sought to understand reality by using our minds to discover the
truth. Thus, postmodernists and their successors are constructivists. They say that truth is
not something one finds out but something one constructs.”66
According to Veith, such degradation of truth leads to a material universe void of
significance. Therefore, the individualistic mindset must not hinder the natural function
of sexuality when it comes to encouraging children to limit their sexual behavior. Thus,
if
63 Philippians 2:3: “Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
64 The project director relied on Alexis de Tocqueville's definition of individualism as "a calm and
considered feeling which disposes each citizen to isolate himself from the mass of his fellows and withdraw
into the circle of family and friends; with this little society formed to his taste, he gladly leaves the greater
society to look after itself," quoted in Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart, p. 37.
65 Bellah, 102.
66 Gene Edward Veith Jr., Post Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture,
(Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Publishing, 2020), 25.
52
a man desires to be a woman, or vice versa, the body itself is subject to reconstruction. 67
The role of human reason was so significant within medieval theology that, according to
the reformers, it replaced God’s revealed Word in the minds of modern humanity.
Unfortunately, one continues to see that such perverting of objective truth in scripture has
played out at TJC. Such constructivism, relativism, and convictions tell us we can never
know the absolute truth. Nature no longer encompasses humanity as its crowning
participant. Immanuel Kant seems to have laid the foundation for constructivism.
According to Jon Dorbolo, in Immanuel Kant: Introducing Philosophy, Kant changed the
world by providing a new way of thinking about how humanity relates to the world.68
Bellah contends that individualism arose in the seventeenth century from a desire
to rise above the struggle of monarchical and aristocratic authority. The result of such
oppression in aristocratic society led to the desire to assert and govern oneself.69 For
modern psychology, as Robert Cole has written, “the self is the only, or main form of
reality.”70 With an increasing focus on the self-realization of individual autonomy, Ann
Swindler concludes that “the obligation to sacrifice oneself for the good of another is
replaced by the duty to respect one’s separateness.”71 According to Bellah, “the inner
67 Veith, 26.
11Jon Dorbolo, “Immanuel Kant,” InterQuest: introducing Philosophy, Oregon State University,
accessed May 15, 2023, http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ph1201/modules//philosophers
/philosophers//kant/kant.html.
69 Bellah, 62.
70 Robert Coles, “Civility and Psychology, Educational Horizons 59, no. 2 (1981), 137.
71 Ann Swindler, Individualism and Commitment in American Life: Readings on Themes of The
Habits of the Heart, Robert N. Bellah et al., eds. (New York: Harper and Row, 1987), 118.
53
tensions of individualism within American culture lead to a classic case of ambivalence.
Thus, value is placed on self-reliance and autonomy, leading to an empty life filled with
a failure to sustain social commitment or community.”72 People seek community in
ethnicity, church, religious practices, civic organizations, and many other places within
our current society. Humanity is seeking an identity in all the wrong places. If self-love
firmly cements itself at the center of modern society, then the opposite of self-love is
agape love firmly cemented at the center of the character of God and His Word.
Unsurprisingly, Christians find the idea of expressive individualism as a direct
insult to the self-sacrificial agape love of Christ. Christian love firmly defines the
willingness of an individual to sacrifice oneself for others. When considering proper and
improper self-love, Thomas Aquinas presents a decadent treatment in his Summa
Theologica. Love (Amore), according to Aquinas, “represents ‘passion’ or ‘emotion’
depending on how one uses such terms.”73 Aquinas contends that love must see itself in
all cases as primarily theological; instead of focusing on self, love mainly draws us
outside ourselves to the greater good and the more powerful agent from which it draws
itself.74 Theologically speaking, all beings, by their God-given nature, seek themselves.
Therefore, humanity enters this world in the inescapable reality that human nature rests
on the object of natural love. Aquinas takes it as “self-evident in things that are devoid of
knowledge; everything naturally seeks to secure what is good for itself just as fire seeks
72 Bellah, 89.
73 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, (Coyote Canon Press, 2018), I-II, 26, 2. Kindle.
74 Ibid.
54
to mount upward, both angel and man naturally seek their good and perfection.”75
Aquinas agrees with Augustine that proper self-love consists of love for the self “in
God.” Improper self-love consists of loving God as a secondary good "for the self."76 At
the heart of individualism is the search for personal freedom and autonomy.
According to Tim Keller in his book, The Reason for God, Christianity
supposedly limits personal growth and the freedom to choose our beliefs and practices.77
In his work Pilgrims Digress, Vanhooser states, “Immanuel Kant defined an enlightened
human being as one who trusts in their power of thinking rather than in authority or
tradition.”78 Such resistance to authority in moral matters profoundly embeds itself in the
present culture. Keller contends that such constraints and disciplines liberate us only
when they fit the reality of one’s nature and capacities. Thus, freedom is not so much the
absence of restrictions as it is about finding the right ones, the liberating ones.79 We learn
that experimentation, risk, and making mistakes bring growth only if one realizes one's
limits and abilities. The over-arching premise behind individualism is the freedom to
define right and wrong for oneself. If we ask such a person, however, ‘Is there anything
someone is doing right now that you believe they should stop doing, no matter what their
75 Aquinas, I-60-3.
76 Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, trans. D. W. Robertson, Jr. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill,
1958), 9-10.
77 Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York, N.Y.: Penguin
Books, 2018), 46.
78 Kevin Vanhooser, Pilgrims Digress: Christian Thinking on and About the Post/Modern Way, in
Christianity and the Post-Modern Turn, ed. Myron B. Penner (Brazos, 2005), 74.
79 Keller, 47.
55
perception is as to the correctness of such actions?’ Most people would respond, ‘Yes, of
course.’ Such a line of thinking, then, should lead one to conclude that there is some
moral reality we do not define for ourselves, regardless of one’s thoughts or feelings.
Keller contends the following when it comes to the principle of freedom:
One of the principles of love – either love for a friend or romantic love – is
that you must lose independence to attain greater intimacy. If you want the
“freedoms” of love – the fulfillment, security, and sense of worth that it brings –
you must limit your freedom in many ways. You cannot enter a
deep relationship and still make unilateral decisions or allow your friend
or lover no say in how you live your life. To experience the joy and
freedom of love, you must give up your autonomy.80
When conceptualizing the idea of unselfish love, C.S. Lewis succinctly concludes the
following:
Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken
To keep it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal.
Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all
entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But it
will change in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless. It will not be broken
but become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy,
or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.81
For a love relationship to be healthy and last, there must be a mutual loss of
independence. For Christians, it is the same with Jesus; the love of Christ constrains us.
The fear of somehow giving up our freedom fades in the backdrop of the freedom one
finds in Christ.
80 Keller, 49.
81 C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (San Francisco: Harper One, 2017). 26.
56
In his work, A Secular Age, Charles Taylor refers to expressive individualism as
humanity finding its meaning by expressing one’s feelings and desires as a culture of
authenticity. Taylor defines expressive individualism in the following way:
The understanding of life that emerges with Romantic expressivism
of the late eighteenth century, that each of us has our way of
realizing our humanity and that it is essential to find and live out one’s
own, as against surrendering to conformity with a model imposed on us
from outside, by society, or the previous generation, or religious or
political authority.82
Therefore, such expression of the self is considered unhindered by any outward pressure
to conform to a greater reality, leaving the individual as king. According to Trueman,
such “external” or “objective” truths are external constructs designed by the powerful to
intimidate and harm the weak. They disallow the possibility of any greater reality to
which one is held accountable.83
The Challenge of Christian Morality
The Challenge of Christian Morality is nothing new within a culture. When
considering, however, the idea of morality in a post-Christian society, traditional moral
thought has changed more dramatically than in previous decades. Upon ministering to
those at TJC, several aspects of Christian moral thought have been found that can no
longer be taken for granted. For example: (1) A couple attends TJC having the
appearance of being married; however, upon further investigation, it is discovered that
82 Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
2007), 475.
83 Trueman, 50.
57
they have been living together unmarried for many years; (2) Having sex before marriage
is acceptable as long as one is in a committed, loving relationship; (3) Sexual purity until
marriage is an outdated and unrealistic expectation; (4) Sexual purity when it comes to
media or modesty in what one wears is seen as a personal choice, not a moral issue. (5)
Moral absolutes no longer exist; everything is up for debate and interpretation.
In his history of sex, Faramerz Dbhoiwala summarizes this shift by pointing to
three significant and closely related developments in the 1970s: (1) the increasing
importance ascribed to conscience (basically understood as natural instinct) as a reliable
guide to moral behavior, (2) a growing public distaste for judicial punishment of
consenting heterosexual transgressors (such as adulterers) of standard moral codes, and
(3) the rising view that the moral laws based on external authorities such as the Bible
might be social constructs and stand problematically over against the natural laws
governing human nature.84 Such developments have led to the overarching idea that
morality should judge itself by instinct rather than those institutions that disagree, seeing
themselves as a hindrance to human authenticity and freedom. In his book Post Modern
Times, Gene Veith concludes that the more significant issue is moral relativism, “the way
people reject moral absolutes in favor of their self-constructed, self-chosen notions of
right and wrong.”85 Veith goes on to state that in the 1970s, people were saying things
like, “That might be right for you, but it isn’t right for me’; “No one has the right to
84 Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2012), 87-110.
85 Veith, 16-18, 37-38.
58
impose their morality on anyone else,” and everybody is free to choose their values for
themselves.”86 Such a culture promotes tolerance of any lifestyle. Veith contends that
easygoing relativism has replaced itself with a new sense that there are correct beliefs
and attitudes and that one must watch what he does and says. Thus, expressing
disapproval of abortion or homosexuality, for instance, or questioning any tenant of
feminism, is unacceptable in polite society.87 Humanity has now entered a time of
political correctness. Therefore, what governs people’s words and behavior are not moral
absolutes but social constructs or norms.
Craig suggests that “every one of us guides our lives inconsistently by certain
values. Are the values we hold dear and guide our lives by mere social constructs, or are
they valid independently of our apprehension? If so, what is their foundation?”88 Craig
suggests that one must differentiate between moral values and obligations or
responsibilities. Regarding moral values, one talks about whether something is good or
bad, whereas moral duties concern the idea of right or wrong. Thus, right and wrong
have to do with moral obligations and what one ought and ought not to do. One is not
morally obligated to do something just because it would be good for such an individual
to do it.89 The more significant issue with sexual immorality among Christians is
clarifying the distinction between something being objective and something being
subjective. To say
86 Veith, 191.
87 Dabhoiwala, 192.
88 Craig, 172.
89 Ibid., 173.
59
something is objective, one must assume it is independent of what people think or feel.
Craig suggests that saying there are objective moral values is to say that something is
morally good or evil, independent of whether someone believes it to be true.90 Therefore,
what one feels about morality directly relates to what one thinks about the divine or
natural law. Trueman points to Freud's conclusion that religion is childish and sexual
morality drives itself by taste, not transcendent divine or natural law. Freud also
reinforces the shift evident in the work of Nietzsche, Marx, and Darwin, who contend
that humans are not naturally “moral,” as Rousseau, Woodworth, and company believed.
According to Freud, humanity lacks a moral nature; “morality” is always a social
construct and cannot be read back into the state of nature.91 Taylor argues that if God did
not exist, we would not have any moral obligation to do anything. Who or what imposes
such moral duties upon us?92 Taylor concludes that moral obligations are unintelligible
apart from the concept of God. The words remain, but their meaning is gone.93 The
question is whether one can recognize the existence of objective moral values without
reference to God. From a theistic perspective, one does not need to believe in God to
realize that one should act morally. According to Craig, “The argument is not that the
belief in God’s existence is necessary for the objective reality of moral values and duties,
90 Craig.
91 Trueman, 222.
92 Richard Taylor, Ethics, Faith, and Reason (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985), 14.
93 Ibid., 14.
60
but that God is necessary for the objective reality of moral values and duties. Neither is
the argument that God must know moral values and duties.”94
The moral dilemma regarding morality hinges on what one believes about moral
values and duties as they relate to objective truth. One must also consider one’s
responsibility as a disciple of Christ. As previously mentioned, TJC consists primarily of
people with little to no understanding of scripture and how it relates to their lives.
Depending on how long one has lived apart from God and His objective truth, the
challenge of reprogramming what the world has polluted will be determined. Christians
are called to acknowledge a duty to announce the gospel, profess their faith, worship
God, and live according to God's will. Christian ethics are guided by God's revelation in
the Scripture above other systems of thought.
In his work, Making Moral Decisions, Patrick Hannon contends that “moral
judgments about right and wrong, good and bad, imply a standard one is meeting or not.
Such a standard rests on the person’s welfare and is about doing or not doing what
promotes their welfare.”95 In his article “Understanding Christian Morality,” Bill
Cosgrave lines out four essential elements of morality:
a) Moral Judgement: The method by which one judges or accesses
morally human actions, attitudes, and situations to decide whether
they are right or wrong, sound or bad.
b) Moral Obligations: Experience tells us that these obligations are part of
human living; some call us to action, and others forbid specific actions.
c) Moral Freedom: We experience being free to do good or evil, right or wrong.
Moral Freedom: We experience being free to do good or evil, right or wrong.
We are people who can choose either of these courses.
94 Craig, 176.
95 Patrick Hannon, Making Moral Decisions (Dublin: Veritas, 2005), 37.
61
d) Knowledge, awareness, and understanding: To be genuinely moral, one must
have fundamental knowledge or experience of the situation and its value.
Without this, to some degree, there will be no moral choice.96
Hannon contends that “for the person of faith, the whole of morality receives a new
context and significance. Faith also gives morality enlightenment and a structure of
support and hope.”97 In his article, “Morality and the Christian,” Vincent MacNamara
postulates that:
Being a Christian is not primarily about being moral. It means, first, that one
accepts a particular religious view of life. That means that one discovers or
endorses a specific answer to a cluster of problems that have a profound
significance for the man – who is personal, whether man can relate to it, whether
it is evil, and why man dies. This means allowing the interpretation of life found
in Christ Jesus to shape one’s existence.98
Such religious faith and its vision of life shape and inspire our moral lives and activities,
giving us an idea for a righteous life that is distinctively Christian.
How does the Christian faith influence Christian morality? Faith and Christian
morality weave together using words like ‘sin’ for moral faults and ‘confession’ to bring
us forgiveness. MacNamara contends two precepts between the Christian religion and
morality are often misunderstood: “Morality as the law of God” and “morality as the will
of God.” According to MacNamara, morality as the law of God is a legitimate way of
speaking of one’s moral duties to God. This would conclude, however, that God imposes
96 Bill Cosgrave, “Understanding Christian Morality.” The Furrow 69, no. 5 (2018): 295–305.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44738733.
97 Hannon, 97.
98 Vincent MacNamara, “Morality and the Christian.” The Furrow 28, no. 10 (1977): 611–618.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27660443.
62
morality on Christians from the outside and is not vital to human life.99 For example, the
giving of the moral laws on Mt. Sinai implies that there were no moral principles before
this event.100 McNamara postulates that “while morality is the will of God, He does not,
in a sense, arbitrarily decide what is right and wrong. Instead, it is the case that when we
have discerned what is right in a particular situation, we have discovered God’s will.101
Thus, religious faith influences one’s moral life. It does so indirectly, not by giving us
precise moral rules but by shaping our outlook on the world and life. Being provided
with attitudes, virtues, and motives determines how one acts and responds in a particular
situation. Hannon concludes the following regarding Christian faith and morality:
We can say that ‘for the person of faith, the whole of morality
receives new context and significance.’ In addition, ‘faith gives to
Morality is not only enlightenment but a structure of support and hope’.
Also, regarding St. Paul's cry in his weakness for help, our
[Christian] story intends itself to be a strength … our biblical tales are one
source of support.102
Finally, one must remember that when God called His people out of darkness and
into light, He did not call them to morality but to be His disciples. Mcnamara contends
that “the Christian lives his life in the consciousness of this fact. So that, for him, the
autonomous moral order is now inescapably the place where he meets God and where he
can respond reasonably to God's offer with himself or to Christ’s call of discipleship.” 103
99 McNamara.
100 Ibid., 617.
101 Ibid.
102 Hannon, 101-2.
103 McNamara, 611.
63
After spending the past twenty-five years in the gospel ministry, the project director
contends that the overarching question the new convert wants to know is, ‘What am I as a
Christian to do,’ and ‘What actions for me are right and wrong – beyond accepting the
validity of the general moral experience of humanity.’ When people think about morality,
however, they tend to think of the practical side of morality. The new believer wants to
know what way is appropriate for the one who accepts the Christian beliefs in God.
MacNamara rightly points out that “the central message of Peter and Paul was not
morality. It had moral implications – ‘If you have risen, seek the things above’ – but it
was primarily gospel rather than law. It was an understanding of God; man’s dealing
with man, death, and destiny.”104 Next, we will consider how the increasing
fragmentation of church and society has hindered the gospel ministry.
The Challenge of Fragmentation
Fragmentation, as described by Charles Taylor, happens whenever people are less
capable of forming a common purpose and carrying it out. Here is what Taylor
concluded:
Fragmentation arises when people come to see themselves more and more
atomistically, otherwise put, as less and less bound to their fellow citizens in
shared projects and allegiances. They may indeed feel linked in
shared projects with some others, but these come to be partial groupings
rather than the whole society.105
104 MacNamara, 618.
105 Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity (Concord, Ontario: Anansi, 1991), 23.
64
Tim Dalrymple, the president and CEO of Christianity Today, made the following
observation about the fragmentation of society:
New fractures are forming within the American evangelical movement,
Fractures that do not run along the usual regional, denominational,
Ethnic or political lines. Couples, families, friends, and congregations
once united in their commitment to Christ, they are now divided over
seemingly irreconcilable worldviews: in fact, they are not merely
dividing but becoming incomprehensible to one another.106
One must consider what is happening within the evangelical church that would
ultimately cause people to abandon their places of worship. In his book Paradox, Ken
Howard concludes that:
The focus of every church should not be doctrine or action but a relationship with
Jesus Christ. The foundation of this new paradigm is the acknowledgment that
Jesus is Lord and loves humanity. This allows for a greater sense of opinions and
beliefs within the Christian body. Still, God’s love is the unifying factor that
maintains a healthy and biblical congregation. A Christian is someone whose
primary purpose is to engage in a loving relationship with Jesus Christ and with
others.107
The project director concludes that this is precisely the root problem with the current
state of fragmentation within the church. If doctrine and Christian action do not matter to
God, why would Jesus’s final command to His disciples be to go and make disciples and
observe and obey all He has commanded them to follow? One ends up with, as Paul
concludes in Ephesians 4:14, that without sound teaching and equipping of the saints, we
become children tossed back and forth by every wave and wind of doctrine. As Howard
106 Timothy Dalrymple, “The Splintering of the Evangelical Soul,” Christianitytoday.com, April
16, 2021, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/april-web-only/splintering-of-evangelical-soul.
107 Ken Howard, Paradoxy: Creating Christian Community Beyond Us and Them (Brewster, MA:
Paraclete Press, 2010), 99-137.
65
concludes, if one seeks to build a loving relationship with God and others, would it not
be wise to determine what God requires of His children and how one should interact with
the world around us? The result of such trends is reshaping and redefining the structure
and ideology of Christianity itself.
In his article “The Six Ways of Fracturing Evangelicalism,” Flowers contends
that many evangelicals assumed that their bonds were primarily theological and
missional while they were political, cultural, and socioeconomic.108 Flowers expounds
that “people in the pews are left questioning the extent to which their unity is based on
the Apostolic or Nicene creeds or other political, cultural, and socioeconomic matters.
They wonder where churches, ministries, or organizations land on such things.”109 Todd
Johnson, Professor of Global Christianity and Missions at Gordon Conwell Theological
Seminary, reports that Christians are in more than 45,000 denominations worldwide.
Throughout the history of Christianity, Christians have struggled with solidarity and
unity. Multiple expressions of faith have existed from the earliest days of the church. The
most severe disagreements have led to church splits, propelling the church in divergent
directions. 110 Johnson concludes that while the earliest church splits were over things
such as culture, doctrine, and eschatology, later breaks were over the idea that each
Christian should
108 Skyler Flowers, “The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism,” mereorthodoxy.com, June 7,
2021, https://mereorthodoxy.com/six-way-fracturing-evangelicalism.
109 Ibid.
110Todd M. Johnson, “Christianity is Fragmented – Why?” Gordonconwell.edu, November 6,
2019, https://www.gordonconwell.edu/blog/christianity-is-fragmented-why/.
66
decide what “church” should look like.111 TJC, as previously stated, is a church filled
with people from various denominations and ecclesiological backgrounds. One of the
primary motivating factors for the following project is to create a method for taking the
fragmented church and unifying them behind the call to discipleship that teaches them all
God has commanded.
In his book The End of Protestantism, Leithart points out that church unity is
rooted in Christ, the work of the one Spirit who moves the many members of His body to
action.112 Leithhart recalls Paul’s outrage that the church at Corinth had divided Christ.
Paul expected and even demanded that the church’s unity be visible. Leithhart rightly
contends the following:
The church’s unity is not an invisible reality that renders visible
things irrelevant. It is a future reality that gives present actions their
orientation and meaning. Things are what they are as anticipations of
what they will be. Christians are not who we are because of our current
condition of weakness and sin; we are who we are in Christ in anticipation
of what He will make us in the end. So, the church’s unity is a fact
because God has promised that one humanity will share His life forever.113
If one destroys unity within the church, one eliminates the church. A church without
unity ceases to be a church. Fellowship is not merely something we do; fellowship is
something that we are. The Bible commands us to make unity one of the top priorities in
the church. The project director contends that very few weeks have passed since
pastoring TJC that the subject of church hurt has not reared its ugly head. The impetus
111 Johnson.
112 Peter J. Leithart, The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church (Grand
Rapids, Mich: Brazos Press, 2016), 29, Kindle.
113 Ibid., 48.
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behind much of what the current culture calls church hurt comes from a faulty
understanding of peace and unity within the church. Many evangelical churches today
equate unity and peace within the body as placating to the current cultural trends for
unity and harmony in the body. This is different, however, from the intent of biblical
teaching. When Luke wrote in Acts 2 that the early church was of one mind and heart
and had all things in common, he did not contend that unity required a watering down of
one’s doctrinal foundational beliefs. On the contrary, it was just the opposite; he
appeared to be doubling down on the fact that core beliefs and doctrines should be of
primary importance for the early believers.
In his article “The Decline and Renewal of the American Church,” Tim Keller
rightly points out that there is no longer a standard set of American values or a unifying
American story. Keller concludes that we live in a fragmented society, even though mid-
20th-century figures assured us that pragmatic common sense and scientific reasoning
could bring a unified moral consensus.114 Keller concludes that “the polarization in our
society has become severe, and the disagreements are about the most basic precepts such
as human nature and human flourishing. There is no longer any unified set of ‘American
values’ or a ‘unifying American story.’ The decline of mainline Protestantism, once the
unofficial but real religion of America, was the cause and result of the breakdown of
American society.”115 In the project director’s experience, many people propagate the
114Tim Keller, “Tim Keller on the Decline and Renewal of the Church,” February 20, 2023,
thegospelcoalition.org, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/tim-keller-decline-renewal-american-
church/.
115Keller.
68
church’s fragmentation when they either focus on tertiary matters instead of gospel -
centric issues or attempt to make gospel-centric matters tertiary.
Gavin Orland’s book Finding the Right Hills to Die On distinguishes ranks or
traits of theological differences:
First-rank Gospels are essential to the gospel itself.
Second-rank doctrines are urgent for the church’s health and practice,
such that they frequently cause Christians to separate at the local church,
denomination, or ministry level.
Third-rank doctrines are essential to Christian theology, but more is
needed to justify separation or division among Christians.
Fourth-rank doctrines are unimportant to our gospel witness and ministry
collaboration.116
In His book, When Doctrine Divides the People of God, Ryne Putman offers three tests
to determine the discernment process:
The hermeneutical test: the more precisely the Bible teaches a doctrine,
the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.
The gospel test: the more central a doctrine is to the gospel, the more
likely it belongs on a higher tier.
The praxis test: the more the doctrine affects the practice of the church,
the more likely it belongs to a higher tier.117
While the triage test will not answer every question, it is a good starting place for
determining what hill we are willing to die on when it comes to things that divide us as a
people. Each category saturates itself, however, with complexities requiring us to
administer triage considering individual cases. Scott Hubbard, editor for desiringgod.org,
distinguishes theological triage into two types.
116 Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hill to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage (Wheaton,
Ill: Crossway, 2020), 19.
117Rhyne R. Putman, When Doctrine Divides the People of God: An Evangelical Approach to
Theological Diversity (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2020), 220-39.
69
Theological Maximalism: Theological maximalists or theological sectarians may
differentiate doctrines to a degree—they may not equate Christ’s deity with a church’s
form of government. For example, they tend to elevate third-tier doctrines to the second
tier and second-tier doctrines to the first tier. According to Hubbard, they often separate
when they should tolerate and divide when they should bear with one another; afraid of
wolves, they attack other sheep.118 Theological Minimalist: Minimalists struggle to speak
of “weightier” matters – not, however, because they raise so many doctrines to higher
tiers, but because so few doctrines find themselves exalted to higher tiers. Hubbard
contends that they may agree that an anti-Trinitarian cannot be a Christian, but only if
pressed. They tend to lower first-tier doctrines to the second tier and second-tier
doctrines to the third tier. Minimalists seek to embody the second beatitude – “Blessed
are the peacemakers” – but rarely take a stand on the eighth beatitude – “Blessed are you
when they revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you for my
sake.”119 Hubbard concludes that the best reason to perform theological triage is that we
believers already do, whether conscious or unconscious. Hubbard contends that we
Christians can only help but treat some doctrines as weightier than others if we
understand how to treat some doctrines as more significant. Thus, our triage will be
shaped less by scripture and more by a mixture of personality, background, and whim.120
118 Scott Hubbard, “Of Mountains and Molehills: How Much Should Doctrine Divide Us,”
desiringgod.org, July 8, 2022, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/of-mountains-and-molehills.
119 Ibid.
120 Ibid.
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Thomas H. Olbricht recounts in The Fragmentation of the Church and its Unity
in Peacemaking a meeting on June 13, 1995, at Notre Dame, Illinois. The following is
the third meeting on the journey towards church unity in today's common confession of
the Apostolic faith. The project director concludes that the following resolution
succinctly reflects what the fragmented church needs to hear today:
In the face of increasing complexities of church unity and peacemaking,
The participants of this consolation make the following resolution:
the definitions of unity, mission, and peacemaking be well-grounded
in an understanding of the apostolic faith as a source of power to create
regional and global ways of peacemaking, with a focus on unmasking
the reality of evil on the church as the community of the meantime
between Christ’s first and second coming. As the community of the
interim (“the people of the way,” Acts), the church has been empowered
by the Lord to bear his witness in the world, to live as a sign and foretaste
of the age to come and to announce His coming Lordship.121
Contextual Application
The ability to contextually apply solutions to challenges at TJC depends on how
one uses the practice of Biblical truth. The more significant question is how one deploys
concepts or ideals to generate a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. Scott
Moreau states that “contextualization means the message … Is defined by Scripture but
shaped by culture.”122 Therefore, first, one must apply Biblical truth to expressive
individualism, Christian morality, and fragmentation of the church so that it can be
121 Jeffrey Gross, and John D. Rempel, ed., The Fragmentation of the Church, and Its Unity in
Peacemaking (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2001), 435-439, kindle.
122 Scott Moreau, Contextualization in Missions: Mapping and Assessing Evangelical Models
(Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2012), 35.
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digested and understood. Next, consideration must be given to the culture into which the
message is deployed.
The history, practice, and literary considerations in chapter three attempt to
contextually identify the problem of Christian culture at TJC: 1) Christian culture’s
propensity to express their individuality through the fear of man over the fear of God; 2)
Christian culture’s propensity to downplay moral absolutes by attempting to color
objective truth in shades of gray; 3) Christian culture’s propensity to focus on tertiary
doctrines while ignoring primary doctrines. The Church has been given the charge to
bear witness of the resurrected Christ to the world. The literature brings to light the
responsibility of every Christian regarding practice and commitment. Thus, the consensus
of the subsequent analysis is that being a mature disciple of Christ means taking
responsibility for one's life, living, considering eternity, and owning the mission of
seeking and saving the lost.
C.S. Lewis once stated?
Our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are half-hearted
creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy has
been offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a
slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.
We are far too quickly pleased.”123
Our world is filled with people content with making mud pies in the slums of this life.
What the world truly needs is not just a new apologetic methodology but a new breed of
Christian apologists. While methods are the practical tools of apologetics, the new kind
123 C.S. Lewis, The Weight of God’s Glory, 14.
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of apologist we need is one who embodies Christ's discipleship. This requires individuals
ready to step up and lead others out of the slum and into the radiant light of God’s eternal
grace.
Conclusion
Whether it’s the challenge of expressive individualism, Christian Morality, or
fragmentation within the church, the overarching problem depends on the lenses through
which one sees oneself and the world. If one views individuality as a construct of one’s
own making, one will fail to ascribe to objective truth. If one views morality as freedom
of choice, right and wrong will always lift to one's imagination. Suppose the church fails
to unite on the core doctrines of Scripture and chooses to divide over trivial tertiary
issues. In that case, the church will find fewer true disciples of Christ and more immature
and malformed followers of Christ. God has called His disciples to bear His witness and
represent a foretaste of what will come when He returns. If the church is going to succeed
in such a venture, it must have a cohesive plan to develop a new kind of apologist for a
post-Christian culture. The next chapter will seek to map out such a plan for this current
age and beyond.
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CHAPTER 4
IMPLEMENTATION
The ability to develop a new ministry strategy for TJC to grow a new kind of
apologist must come with a clear set of objectives, goals, and procedures. The person
who fails to plan ultimately plans to fail. When tested, one cannot assume that the proper
defense or doctrine will magically appear in their mental process. The following chapter
will unpack clear goals and objectives to ensure the project’s success.
In the Journal of Messianic Jewish Studies, Glaser contends that “humanity is not
meandering through the ages, as God has a plan and purpose for the conclusion of our
present age. It is not some ethereal or non-descript plan but is lined out with amazing
detail in scripture.”124 Rather than remaining passive participants in the future, God has
laid out a plan for humanity. We should diligently study the scriptures and discover what
He has planned so that we are better prepared to take an active role in His plan. Over the
past decades, the church has been passive in preparing apologists for a post-Christian
culture. Such an approach has led to a biblically illiterate, apathetic, and immature
church culture. The following chapter aims to create a process to move people from
biblically illiterate apologists to biblically literate apologists, from hopelessly apathetic
apologists to active and confident apologists, and from weak and immature apologists to
grown-up mature apologists. Next, we will look at the objectives and goals which drive
the following project.
124 Mitch Glasser, “Great Commission and the Coming Kingdom: Matthew 28:18-29,” Journal of
Messianic Jewish Studies, no. 1 (2015) http://www.digitalcommons @ Biola.edu.
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Project Objectives and Goals
Objectives and goals are the two facets of the project that must be clearly defined
and delineated to ensure each finds success. Goals are big-picture, long-term, and often
challenging to measure. Objectives will clearly explain the steps along the journey of the
project's strategy. Specific short-term, long-term, quantifiable milestones will move
participants closer to the finish line. The following chapter aims to bring the project's
needs into practical, measurable steps to implement change.
As previously stated, the following project aims to develop a ministry strategy for
TJC to grow a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. The type of apologetics
that will create a new kind of apologist begins and ends with a proper understanding of
what discipleship is and is not. When the New Testament refers to believers, they are
called disciples or followers of Christ. In the project director’s experience, however,
discipleship was left to happen organically rather than intentionally. If there were an
intentional component to discipleship, TJC would have more fully formed and
transformed followers of Christ. Intentionality begins with setting clear objectives and
goals for generating a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. Next, we will
explore and digest clear objectives and plans for the project.
1. The project director will synthesize the needs of those at The Journey Church to
develop a new ministry strategy for forty learners to have meaningful Biblical
Conversations.125 In the following two ways:
125 Biblical Conversations: Generally the goings out and in of social interaction (Ephesians
2:3; 4:22; R.V., "manner of life"); one's deportment or course of life. This word is never used in scripture in
the sense of verbal communication from one to another (Psalm
50 :23 ; Hebrews
13:5 ). In Philippians
1:27 and 3:20, a different Greek word is used. This means one's relations to a community as a citizen, i.e.,
citizenship.
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A. The project director will strategically train learners to engage in
meaningful biblical conversation using core doctrines of the faith in a
post-Christian context.
B. The project director will strategically train learners to coherently give a
Biblical Christian Worldview perspective in a post-Christian context.
C. The project director will strategically train learners to engage in everyday
culture through genuine missionary encounters.
2. The project director will synthesize the needs of those at The Journey Church to
develop a new ministry strategy for forty learners to have difficult conversations
with atheists, agnostics, or non-Christians in the following two ways:
A. The project director will strategically train learners to engage atheists,
agnostics, or non-Christians in complex secular challenges to their faith.
B. The project director will strategically train learners to engage atheists,
agnostics, or non-Christians in how the Bible relates to science and
history.
3. The project director will synthesize the needs of those at The Journey Church to
develop a new ministry strategy for forty learners in the transformative nature of
apologetics in the following two ways:
A. The project director will teach learners Biblical ways of applying
apologetics in a post-Christian context.
B. The project director will train learners to live intentionally at the margins
of society.
Project Practices
1. The Project Director will synthesize the best practices and needs at The Journey
Church by administering a pre-survey and post-survey to 40 learners for the
following purposes:
A. Increasing the project director’s knowledge and strategic thinking by
formulating best practices at TJC on engaging and growing mature
followers of Christ.
B. The project director’s skills will increase by gathering data from forty
learners to create a gospel-rich and biblically sound discipleship
environment at TJC. The data will consist of a pre-survey compared to the
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participants' post-survey answers. Data and input will also be collected and
assessed following each week’s practical application.
2. The Project Director will examine forty learners' strategic development and best
practices at TJC to embrace an everyday community that leads to vibrant
missional living in the following two ways:
A. The project director, along with the collaborative efforts of the forty
learners, will develop at least five strategies for engaging in everyday
missional living in secular culture.
B. The project director, along with the collaborative efforts of the learners,
will adapt five strategies to equip forty learners to engage in everyday
missional living in the nuclear family.
3. The Project Director, along with the collaborative efforts of the forty learners,
will examine strategies and develop best practices at TJC to create a culture of
learning in the following two ways:
A. To increase the project director’s knowledge and strategic thinking in
developing best practices for TJC by creating three new strategies to equip
learners in transformational learning at TJC.
B. To increase the project director’s skills in creating intentional training at
TJC, the project director will compare four strategies for engaging
learners in intentional long-term discipleship.
Methods of deploying the objectives and goals are essential in moving from the
mental process of an idea to a particular form for accomplishing its goal. Leslie Riopel, a
professor of psychology and an expert on the psychology of mindfulness,126 contends that
setting goals helps trigger new behaviors, guides our focus, and sustains momentum for
life. Plans also promote a sense of mastery.127 Therefore, ultimately, one cannot manage
126 Mindfulness: It must be noted that mindfulness is a Buddhist idea and not a Christian concept.
127 Leslie Riopel, “The Importance, Benefits, and Value of Goal Setting,” positivepsychology.com
(2019), https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-goal-setting.
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what one does not measure. The following project seeks to build upon past objectives
that have found success and create new goals where others have failed. Next, we will
consider the project’s plans and role in ensuring its success.
Project Plans
Changing ingrained and learned behavior is an arduous and lengthy process.
Many of the past techniques for creating well-formed apologists have failed due to
forming "shortcuts" that ‘rarely’ or ‘seldom’ work. The following project is not intended
to be a behavior modification but a life-transformation process. The project director
seeks to implement the subsequent changes to past failed methods of discipleship by:
1. Creating better communication skills in assimilating and disseminating
information in a post-Christian culture (learners must learn how to process the
information they find themselves given and communicate it effectively).
2. Implement active rather than passive learning skills (active learners become
actively involved in the learning process while passive learners have little to no
involvement in their learning process).
3. Long-term accountability in the discipleship process (accountability helps curb
unhealthy behavior by helping one receive wise and helpful counsel, keeping the
learner engaged in the discipleship process).
Next, we will consider the methods and their role in ensuring the project’s success.
Project Methodology
The following project will deploy three different methodologies for teaching and
assimilation. Method one is the use of self-evaluation. The project director will
administer a survey at the project's beginning and end to evaluate the learners' growth
and transformation. The task will find itself helpful in producing data to assess the
effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the goals and objectives of the project (See Appendix
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1 for the participant survey). Self-evaluation will be helpful throughout the teaching
process. There will also be student-led, teacher-facilitated talkback sessions to assess
comprehension and understanding of key concepts introduced by the project director.
Method two is the master teacher method. Mastery learning approaches ensure that all
participants have mastered key concepts before moving on to the next topic.
In contrast with many traditional forms of instruction, with gaps of
misunderstanding widening in our post-modern culture, participants may need to be
included in the teaching process. The project director will break down the subject matter
into clearly definable learning blocks, creating a clear objective and specified outcome.
Collaborative learning measures will be introduced to learners, testing them through
discussion and reciprocal talkback from participants and the project director.
Method Three will incorporate the Collaborative Learning Method. A
collaborative (or Cooperative) learning approach involves participants working together
on activities and learning tasks in a group environment to ensure everyone participates.
Participants in the group may work on individual tasks that will contribute to a common
overall outcome or work together on shared tasks, distinguishing the process from an
unstructured group format. Small groups of three to five students will engage in
accountability for learning and implementation of the following elements:
1. Participants will engage in meaningful Biblical conversations using the doctrines
of the faith.
2. Participants will form and implement a Biblical Christian Worldview based on
core doctrines of the faith.
3. Participants will strategically synthesize ways to engage atheists, agnostics, and
non-Christians with challenges to their faith.
4. Participants will synthesize and implement to engage in everyday missional
living.
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Next, we will consider a brief profile and history of some of the proposed participants for the
project.
Project Participants
The following project will consist of forty participants from The Journey Church
and participants from other ministry partners. To ensure the project has forty participants,
the project director will provide a live stream for those out of the area and act as the table
leader. Following is a brief profile and history of several of the proposed candidates:
1. Participant #1 (Age 35) is married and a flight crew officer in the United States
Army. He has been a part of the Journey family for the past two years. Aaron
grew up in the church but has had little intentional spiritual development. The
program director has been working to disciple Aaron over the past year and has
seen tremendous growth. I find the participant to be a servant at heart, and he will
significantly contribute to the project.
2. Participant #2 (age 33) is married and a general manager at Walmart. The
participant has actively served at The Journey for the past four years and is
currently being discipled by one of our other leaders that the program director
previously discipled. The participant is eager to grow and will be dependable for
the following project.
3. Participant #3 (age 40) is married and works as a Case Worker supervisor for the
state. She leads the outreach ministry for TJC and serves on our hospitality team.
The participant attended TJC before Joe’s conversion. She was instrumental in
her husband’s coming to Christ and continues actively pursuing a love
relationship with Christ. Investing in The Ministry at The Journey Church shows
her desire to grow and learn.
4. Participant #4 (Age 31) is the project director's son-in-law. The participant serves
at Northside Baptist Church in Victoria, Texas. The participant is also a full-time
band director at the local Junior High in Victoria. The participant has expressed to
the project director in the past the desire to make more disciples and is looking for
a plan to do so. The project will be the catalyst to help the participant fulfill his
desire to make disciples. (Remote-Learner)
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5. Participant #5 (age 35) has been a journey member and our hospitality team
coordinator for five years. She has experienced a rough family life that was not a
healthy Christian environment. The participant, however, will benefit
significantly from intentional long-term discipleship.
6. Participant #6 (age 49) is married and a Killeen Independent School District tech
specialist. He has been a part of TJC since the beginning. He was the custodian at
the school where TJC first met. He had the keys to let us in each Sunday and
eventually felt called to join TJC. He will be a perfect candidate for this project.
7. Participant #7 (age 54) is married and retired from The United States Army. The
participant came to know Christ during COVID when he would show up at the
TJC door on Saturday evening while the project director was recording the
sermon to stream for Sunday. The project director has been engaged in intentional
discipleship with the participant for the past year and will eagerly engage in the
ministry project.
8. Participant #8 (age 54) is married and a licensed professional counselor working
with the military. This is the project director’s wife. Pastors’ wives often
volunteered (especially by their husbands); however, the project director's wife
immediately expressed interest in participating. The participant has been a
follower of Christ for the longest time out of the participants in the project. The
participant is the project director’s better half and helpmate in every way
imaginable.
9. Participant #9 (age 30) is married and currently serves as the administrative
assistant for Northside Baptist Church in Victoria, Texas. The participant is the
daughter of the project director and has faithfully followed her Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, for the past 23 years. The participant is her church’s women’s
ministry director and leads the graded children’s choirs. The participant will
embrace the following project and the opportunity to implement some of the
principles in her church’s ministry. (Remote participant)
10. Participant #10 (age 40) is married and an office manager for an optometrist. He
entered a relationship with Jesus Christ over three years ago. Following his
baptism at TJC, the project director actively engaged him in discipleship. The
participant is very dependable and dedicated to spiritual growth.
11. Participant #11 (age 38) is married and works for a medical supply delivery
company. The participant has been a member of TJC for the past five years and is
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currently an Elder in training. The participant will enthusiastically engage in the
following ministry project.
12. Participant #12 (age 38) is a single schoolteacher who works with our student
ministry at The Journey. Johanna served in Africa with the International Mission
Board for several years and has been an instrumental part of the Journey Plant for
the past eight years. Recently, she adopted a troubled teenager who had recently
lost both parents. She is always dependable and will be an excellent addition to
the project.
13. Participant #13 (age 29) is married and the worship leader at TJC. One of the
most incredible things about the participant is that he is teachable. The participant
is dependable and will fully engage in the project. The project director has
mentored and discipled the participant for the past two years.
14. Participant #14 (age 36) is a stay-at-home mom married to Aaron. She is the least
spiritually formed member of the group. The project director chose, however, to
include her because the project aims to create and re-form better apologists for
Christ. The participant actively serves in the ministries of TJC and is very
committed to growing spiritually.
15. Participant #15 (age 38) is a former Marine who serves as associate pastor at
Christ Community Church in Harker Heights. The participant has been a close
friend of the project director for the past eight years. The participant is the mentor
team coordinator for “Mighty Oaks,” a faith-based ministry for active military,
veterans, and first responders. The participant will significantly contribute to the
project with his church and life experience.
16. Participant #16 (age 38) is married and an operations officer in the United States
Army. He and his family spent most of their time at TJC. However, he is eager to
take the subsequent spiritual growth and development step and will embrace this
challenge.
17. Participant #17 (age 40) is married and works at a dry cleaner in Ft. Hood. The
participant is a relatively new believer. She is shy and quiet but always ready to
serve and be attentive at our community group meetings. The participant and her
husband are both relatively new believers. Upon coming to TJC, neither realized
that living together without marriage was sinful. During a study on 1 Corinthians
6 and 7, they became convicted and left church that day to procure a wedding
ring. The following week, they came to me and asked if the project director would
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marry them as soon as possible. This study will be challenging yet very beneficial for
the participant.
Project Process
The following project will consist of three major teaching sections:
1. Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life.
2. Engaging Culture for Everyday Life.
3. Practical Apologetics for Everyday Life.
The following project will be divided into three sections over three different weekends:
November 17th and 18th, December 15th and 16th, and January 12th and 13th (see Appendix
2 for the Proposed teaching outline). The training weekends will consist of four thirty-
minute master teacher sessions and conclude with four twenty-to-thirty-minute talkback
sessions. The table talk sessions will be directed by a table leader as assigned by the
project director. Students will receive a training workbook which will include the
following: 1) a teaching outline for all twelve sessions; 2) individual study guidelines and
table-talk guidelines along with questions intended to generate discussion and learning
(see appendix 3 for table-talk guidelines and questions); 3) the project director will
include a covenant for each participation and commitment to the project with the initial
survey; (see Appendix 1 for a survey and participation commitment); 4) each student will
receive a list of Scriptures to which they should become familiar with throughout the
training; (see Appendix 3 for Scripture list); 5) Students will receive a copy of all graphs
and data on the state of Biblical theology in Western culture. Each group will devise a
practical task-based application following each teaching session. Groups will gauge the
effectiveness or ineffectiveness of each task at the following month’s table talk time,
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making revisions or additions to the application. The project director will also engage one
hundred pastors through a directed survey to assess the spiritual climate of churches in a
post-Christian culture to be included in the training process (see Appendix 1 for pastor
survey). The project process ensures that the goals and precepts meet the objectives in the
following ways. For example: 1) Participants will experience meaningful Biblical
conversations on the core doctrinal principles through collaborative learning during
talkback discussions and practical implementation to ensure mastery of each doctrine.
The project director will experience growth in a gospel-rich discipleship environment
through the collaborative table-talk discussions and data collected from the weekly
application. 2) The project director will utilize surveys, talkback sessions, and practical
applications to assess the best practices at TJC to engage the secular culture and the
nuclear family in missional living.128 Christian doctrine is the teaching found in the Bible
– about who God is, who we are, and why the world exists. The subject merits careful
attention because it plays a vital role in everyday Christian life. If there is going to be a
new process for developing apologists for a post-Christian culture, it must begin with
doctrines for everyday life.
128 George Peters defines missions as “the sending forth of authorized persons beyond the borders
of the New Testament church and her immediate gospel influence to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in
gospel-destitute areas, to win converts from other faiths or non-faiths to Jesus Christ, and to establish
functioning, multiplying local congregations who will bear the fruit of Christianity in that community and
to that country”—George W. Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions (Chicago: Moody, 1972), 11. Ed
Stetzer and Daniel Im refer to missional as adopting the posture of a missionary.
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Book 1: Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life
Session one: Goal one is to understand the doctrine of inerrancy and sufficiency
of Scripture. The authority of Scripture has fallen on hard times in the post-Christian
culture we live in today. Unfortunately, many believers have external sources they list en
to today that have more power over their lives than Scripture. D.A. Carson contends that
the slide from the authority of Scripture leads to an appeal to selective evidence. The
health, wealth, and prosperity gospel are among the most egregious offenders.129
According to Carson, such offenders quickly identify other, more subtle offenders who
refuse to discuss disputed matters to sidestep controversy within the church. Such topics
include poverty, racism, homosexuality, cohabitation, and gender roles, to mention a
few.130 The project director contends that the church will continue to see a great divide
and rebellion of apostasy in our lifetime if the doctrine of Scripture is not vehemently
taught and absorbed by the Christian community.
Goal two is understanding what life looks like, considering the Bible's inerrancy
and authority. Goal two is understanding what life looks like, considering the Bible's
inerrancy and authority. In his article "Scriptural Inspiration and Authority," Grant
Castleberry contends that Christians somehow believe one must supplement Scriptures
129 D.A. Carson, “Subtle Ways to Abandon the Authority of scripture in Our Lives,” Themelios:
An International Journal for Students of Theological (2017), 42, Issue 4,
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/subtle-ways-to-abandon-the-authority-of-scripture-in-
our-lives/.
130 Ibid., 42.
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with secular psychology and world philosophies to develop better habits and grit.131 If
God breathes out all Scripture, however, why would one rely on one’s understanding of
the spiritual need and remedy for a person's life instead of God’s? In his column, “The
Art of Imperious Ignorance,” Mike Ovey explains that this line of thinking suggests that
all relevant biblical passages on a stated subject are exegetically confusing and unclear
and, therefore, cannot find themselves known.132 Imperious ignorance is not unknown in
the present state of the Church. In his recent book, David Gushee argues that homosexual
marriage is among the things upon which one should agree to disagree.133 Such dogmatic
ignorance allows people to develop assumptions and positions without Scriptural
Authority. The project director contends that genuine humility finds itself by submitting
to the Word of God, no matter what the consequences and pushback might be from the
present culture.
Session 2 is on the doctrine of God. Goal one is to understand the big picture of
the doctrine of God. In Christianity, God is the eternal supreme being who created and
preserves everything. According to the project director, the monotheistic God in which
Christians put their faith is transcendent (independent and removed from the material
world) and immanent (involved in the material universe). If one were to ask most people
in Western culture today if they believed in God, the answer would most likely be ‘yes;’
131 Grant Castleberry, “Scriptural Inspiration and Authority, (2023), Table Talk Magazine,
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2023/06/scriptural-inspiration-and-authority.
132 Michael J. Ovey, “Off the Record: The Art of Imperious Ignorance,” Themelios 41, no. 1
(2016),
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-art-of-imperious-ignorance/.
133 David Gushee, A Letter to My Anxious Christian Friends: From Fear to Faith in Unsettled
Times (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), 12.
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however, not everything is as it appears. When Americans say they believe in God, what
do they mean? According to Pew Research, nine out of ten Americans believe in a higher
power; however, only a slim majority believe in God as described in the Bible. The study
contends that many Americans who believe in God with absolute certainty have declined
in recent years. Therefore, the new apologist must ask: When someone says they do not
believe in God, who or what are they rejecting? Are they rejecting belief in any higher
power or spiritual force in the universe, or are they rejecting only a traditional idea of
God, perhaps viewing a fanciful picture of God as a bearded man in the sky?134
Goal two is to understand what the doctrine of God looks like in everyday life.
According to the project director, the more significant issue for the church today,
considering the doctrine of God, is that it has too small a view of God. In his article,
“Why God is Both Incomprehensible and Knowable at the Same Time,” Erik Thoennes
contends that scripture teaches that we can have proper and personal knowledge of God,
but this does not mean we will ever understand Him exhaustively.”135 The Bible
explicitly makes it clear that God is incomprehensible to us. We read about this in Psalm
145:3: "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable,"
in Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord." Thoennes concludes that God is never fully known; those who seek
to
134 Gregory A. Smith, and Jesicca Pumphry, “When Americans Say They Believe in God What do
they Mean?” Pew Research (2018), www.pewresearch.org.
135 Erik K. Thoennes, “How God is Both Incomprehensible and Knowable at the Same Time,”
Crossway, (2016) https://www.crossway.org/articles/how-god-is-both-incomprehensible-and-knowable-
at-the-same-time/.
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know God should be deeply humbled, realizing they will always have more to learn.
While the incomprehensibility of God could lead to despair and apathy, He can be
known personally and sufficiently. We are reminded in 2 Peter 1:2-3 that "God's grace
multiplies itself to us in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord." Finally,
consider what
J.I. Packer has to say about our duty to know the God of the Bible:
We are brought to the point where we both can and must get our life’s priorities
straight. From current Christian publications, you might think that the most vital
issue for any authentic or would-be Christian today is church union, social
witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths. Or refuting this or
that- ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have you.
But our line of study makes the present-day concentration on these things look
like a gigantic conspiracy of misdirection. Of course, it is not that; the issues
themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in
paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from
what was, is, and always will be the proper priority for every human being – that
is, and always will be the appropriate priority for every human being – that is,
learning to know God in Christ.136
Today's chasm within the evangelical Church is the difference between knowing about
God and knowing God. Knowing about God is primarily a matter of assimilating
information while Knowing God involves first-hand personal experience and
involvement.
Session three has the purpose of understanding the holiness of God. Goal one is
to understand the doctrine of the holiness of God. God is holy; therefore, He requires that
we should be holy. The project director received the book The Pursuit of Holiness by
Jerry Bridges upon graduating High School in nineteen-eighty-seven. The text has
possibly been the most influential book in the project director’s spiritual development.
136 J.I. Packer, 314.
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The problem that Bridges addresses in his book is that many people have what he calls
cultural holiness. They adapt to the character pattern and behavior of other Christians
rather than that of God. Bridges, however, rightly points out that God has not called one
to be like those around them. He has called us to be like Himself.137 According to
Bridges, imitating God’s holiness is the difference between knowing and doing what is
right. Many people know what to do but fail because it involves sacrifice. God is always
just and does the right thing without hesitation.138 The cultural lie Satan continues to
weave into our culture today is the same lie that he told Eve. Essentially, he told her,
"God is being unfair to you" (Genesis 3:4-5). Upon closer investigation, however, such a
premise by Satan is impossible. God could never act against His nature. He could never
be unfair in His actions because His very nature is holiness.
Goal two is to understand what it means to live every day in constant recognition
of the holiness of God. Holiness is central to making sense of this life; it is the only way
to know oneself and the depth of one’s sinfulness. Holiness should be the end goal of all
genuine followers of Christ. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But as he who called you is
holy, you also be holy in all your conduct since it is written ‘You shall be holy, for I am
holy.’” Thus, the purpose of all biblical theology is the holiness of God and our pursuit
of His holiness. In his book Holiness R.C. Ryle puts the doctrine into perspective in the
following statement:
The believers find themselves exhorted to "perfect holiness in fear of God" – to
"go on to perfection" – to "be perfect," no careful reader of the Bible will ever
137 Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs, Co.: Navpress, 1978), 25-26.
138 Ibid.
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think of denying (2cor. 7:1; Heb 6:1; 2 Cor. 13:11). But I have yet to learn that
there is a single passage in scripture which teaches that a literal perfection – that
complete and entire freedom from sin, in thought, or word or deed – is attainable,
or has ever been attained, by any child of Adam in this world.139
Paul reminds us, however, that "he who began a good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Perfection is reached, yet it will not
happen until our life on this earth ends and our eternal existence begins. If the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then the new kind of apologist needs a firm grasp of
God's sovereignty.
Goal three is to understand the sovereignty of God. A clear understanding of the
sovereignty of God is necessary for all would-be apologists in a post-Christian culture.
God’s sovereignty is His right and power to do everything He proposes. In his work, The
Sovereignty of God, A.W. Pink declares that “the attitude of modern teaching is that the
creature has broken the boundaries set by his Creator and that God is now practically a
helpless spectator of the sin and suffering caused by Adam.”140 Pink contends that the
sovereignty of the God of the Bible is absolute, irresistible, and infinite. When one
proclaims that God is sovereign, one recognizes His right to rule the universe just as He
pleases.141 Therefore, one must affirm God's right to do whatever He chooses with the
lump of clay, out of one lump, a vessel for honor, and out of another lump a vessel for
dishonor (Romans 9:21). So; God is under no rule of law outside of His own will and
139 R.C. Ryle, Holiness: It’s Nature, Hinderance, Difficulty, And Roots (Apollo, Pennsylvania:
Ichthus Pub., 2017), ix.
140 A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Newberry, Florida: Bridge-Logos, 2008), 9.
141 Ibid., 10.
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nature. This doctrine has enormous implications for the apologist today because God is
not obligated to explain His business to anyone. The sovereignty of God helps us
understand God's providence. He does not simply decree what will happen and passively
sit by and watch; He actively participates in His world. The project will attempt to show
how living out the sovereignty of God means understanding what He has called us to do
and what we should entrust Him to do.
The session has four purposes: to understand God's created order and the fall of
man. Goal one is to understand the doctrine of creation. Creation is at the center of
everything that humans say or do in the world. Paul contends in Romans 1:19-20 that
everything one needs to know about God is perceived through creation. A proper
understanding of creation leads us to grace, salvation, and the cross of Christ. Coming to
faith in Christ is impossible without an appropriate sense of God’s creation. The doctrine
of creation is foundational for beginnings, endings, and everything in between. Guy
Richard, associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary,
contends that it is hard to imagine any topic within Christianity that has caused more
debate or disagreement than the doctrine of creation.142 According to Richard, the idea
that God created everything is the proverbial line in the sand that immediately divides
people into two camps—those who believe in creation and those who do not.143 The
142 Guy M. Richard, “The Doctrine of Creation,” http://www.thegospelcoalition.org.
143 Herman Bavinck calls the doctrine of creation “the starting point of true religion.” It thus
divides the world into believers and unbelievers. See Bavinck, In the Beginning, 23. Francis Schaeffer
similarly believed that the doctrine of creation was so crucial for evangelism that, if he had an hour with a
non-Christian, he would spend the first fifty-five minutes on the topic of design and the last five minutes on
an actual presentation of the gospel. See Kelly, Creation and Change, 23–24.
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ontological question of whether creation is ex nihilo (out of nothing from nothing)
produces a problematic theological issue: where did the pre-existing material come
from? If we say it found itself created, many problems arise: who made it? When? Why?
All these questions and more must be a part of the discipleship process for creating a new
kind of apologist.
Goal two is to understand what life looks like, considering the truth of the
doctrine of creation in everyday life. Regarding the doctrine of creation, the significance
of living each day reminds one that they own nothing and are in a glory war daily.
Understanding that God is not only the source but also the sustainer of all things means
that every person in the universe is subject to God and dependent on Him for everything.
No one is autonomous and independent.
Such a statement goes against the very fiber of one’s modern sensibilities that one
is one’s person.144 Many believe this aspect of the doctrine of creation paves the way for
the gospel. Herman Bavinck, Francis Shaeffer, and many others emphasize the
importance of the doctrine of creation, which Bavinck calls “The starting point of true
religion.”145
Session five intends to explain the doctrine of man's creation in God's image and
the effects of original sin on that creation. To be made in the image of God is to be made
144 Paul Tripp helpfully exposes three lies that we live with, each of which he says resolves itself
in the doctrine of creation: the lies of autonomy, relativity, and self -sufficiency. See
his article on "The Doctrine of Creation.” https://www.paultripp.com/the-doctrine-of- creation?
gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpOnOxajNgAMVpi3UAR3OwgKHEAAYASAAEgKeHfD_BwE
145 Bavinck, 23.
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communal, moral, spiritual, and ruling. Central to the Bible's teaching are the words in
Genesis 1:26: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The Westminster
Confession of Faith defines the imago Dei of God as:
“God … created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls,
endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His image.”146
The most magnificent part of being created in God's image is sharing one’s identity with
one’s maker.
Goal two is to understand what it looks like to live in the image of God in
everyday life. Being created in the image of God changes how one views one's identity.
One of the more significant identity crises in culture today is defining one's gender. One
of the greatest blessings of being a Christian, however, is knowing who we are as God's
creation and why we exist. How one views their creation in the image of God changes
how one considers the idea of justice, mercy, love, and respect in everyday life. It is in
God, as Paul exclaims, that we live, move, breathe, and find our being.
Goal three is to understand the doctrine of original sin. What is the Biblical
evidence for original sin? Scripture declares that we are naturally born sinners. Psalm
51:5 states that we all come into the world in the same position as sinners. The doctrine
of original sin has fallen on difficult times in the church's recent history. According to
Paul Trip in his book Do You Believe: “One of the sad results of sin is that the average
sinner on the street carries little awareness, understanding, or guilt of sin. Sin is no
longer
146 Westminster Shorter Catechism, A1.
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a category in people’s minds or our culture. Sin is not viewed as a tool that explains
people’s motivation and behavior.”147 Matt Perman, director of career navigations at The
Kings College, wrote in a recent article for Desiring God, "If humanity is not born in sin,
wouldn't we expect there to be some people who have ‘beaten the odds’ and never
sinned? If we are born innocent and good, why aren’t there at least some people who
have continued in this state and remained sinless? The fact that everybody sins needs
some explanation. The best answer is that we are sinners by nature.”148 Some might argue
that all people sin because society is sinful, thinking that community makes it impossible
for people to remain pure. This brings one back to the ontological question. How did
humanity get sinful in the first place? If people are born morally good, then how did
people come to gather into societies that influence all people to sin?
Goal four seeks to understand what original sin looks like in everyday life. A
solid theology of sin can only solve humanity's problems. Today's culture tends toward
behavior modification instead of sin mortification. In The Mortification of Sin, the
famous Puritan John Owens shows the need for Christians to engage in a life-long battle
against the sinful tendencies that remain in them despite having been brought to faith and
a new life in Christ.149
Session six seeks to understand the doctrine of justification leading to one’s
sanctification. Goal one is to understand the doctrine of justification. The two most
147Trip, 266.
148 Matt Perman, “What is the Biblical Evidence for Original Sin,” Desiring God (2026)
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-biblical-evidence-for-original-sin.
149 John Owens, The Mortification of Sin (New York: Trade Life Press, 2013), 91.
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essential words in justification are “in Christ” (Romans 5:1-11). In our church culture
today, the propensity to seek justification by what one does rather than who one is
continues to rear its head. Such behavior only devalues the gift so richly poured out on
humanity. Goal two intends to learn justification's impact on one's everyday life. Every
day, one should humbly admit the damage that sin has done and realize that justification
helps one reach their full potential in Him as a child of the King.
Goal three intends to learn the gospel of one’s sanctification. Sanctification is the
ongoing difference between death and life. One is either dead in their sins or made alive
in Christ. One must continually be reminded that sanctification is the continuing work of
the law and grace to rescue them from sin. Unfortunately, many people fail to grasp the
ongoing work of Christ in their lives. Some view sanctification as a sprint rather than a
marathon. They expect the process to be instantaneous upon conversion from death to
life. Paul speaks, however, of fighting the good fight and finishing the race at the end of
life (2 Tim. 4:7). Paul also reminds us in Philippians 1:6 that the one who started the
good work in us will bring it to completion when Christ returns.
Goal four is to understand what sanctification looks like in everyday life.
Everyday sanctification is a continual transformation of the mind. Paul reminds us in
Romans 12:2 not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by renewing one's
mind. The session aims to offer daily rhythms for one’s sanctification. In section two, we
will look at ways to engage culture in everyday life.
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Book 2: Engaging Culture for Everyday Life
Session, one aims to understand one’s mission to live at the margin of a post-
Christian culture. Chester and Timmis, in their book Everyday Church, conclude that
living on the margins in a post-Christendom society means that we are aliens, exiles, and
pilgrims who no longer feel at home. Carl Trueman concedes in his article “Six Ways
Christians Can Respond to Our Strange World” that the world has shifted underneath our
feet. Cultures’ new notions of selfhood have challenged traditional Christian views,
leaving one in a hostile place where it’s dangerous to challenge the new status quo.150
The challenge we will address in the session is understanding one’s Biblical worldview
through the eyes of Scripture and how one can apply it to one's present culture.
Session two considers what it looks like for one to be transformed and renewed in
one’s mind. The goal is to understand how to develop mature Christian minds for a post-
Christian culture. In Moreland’s book Love God with All Your Mind, He contends that
what hinders spiritual growth is "the empty self."151 According to Moreland, the empty
self is constituted by its own set of values, motives, and habits of thought, feeling, and
behavior that perverts and eliminates the life of the mind and makes maturation in the
way of Christ extremely difficult.152 Creating a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian
culture must begin and end with pursuing proper habits of the mind. Reimaging virtues
150 Carl Trueman, “6 Ways Christians Can Respond to Our Strange New World,” The Gospel
Coalition,
(2022), https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/respond-strange-new-world/.
93 Moreland, 97.
152 Ibid, 77.
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and the good life and having sound reason and logical principles move learners to a
change of mind. Such a mind will ensure that a post-Christian culture needs a new kind
of apologist.
Session three will seek to unpack the mission of making disciples who observe all
God’s commands. One of the most significant critiques from the outside world of
Christians today is that they are hypocrites. The word hypocrite means “actor,” someone
playing the part of being a Christian but not following what they say they believe. When
Jesus first called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew into His service, Jesus commanded
them to “follow me.” All those who came behind them to follow Jesus were known as
His “disciples.” Jesus made it explicitly clear to those who followed Him that their
followership was not merely receiving an education or adhering to ethical rules. To
follow Jesus meant recognizing Him for who He was – the incarnate son of God, the
long-awaited Messiah. Such a followership meant reorienting one’s life to conform to His
heavenly kingdom. In an article in Table Talk Magazine titled “Disciples Keep Christ’s
Commands,” Greg Gilbert points out that Jesus states in John 14:15, “If you love me, you
will keep my commands.” Such a statement may seem simplistic; however, if one looks
more closely, one will discover that it teaches us much about what it means to be a true
disciple of Christ. Gilbert contends that Christians should want to follow Jesus, not for
fear of judgment and retribution but because they recognize what He has done for them,
thus motivating a desire to live a life of obedience.153 The section on the mission of
153 Greg Gilbert, “Disciples Keep Christ’s Commandments,” Table Talk Magazine, (2018)
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2018/06/disciples-keep-christs-commandments/.
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Making disciples is vital for the project. According to the project director, one of the
most significant factors missing in our discipleship process today is a clear
understanding of how a disciple is called to a life of obedience.
Session four seeks to discover the mission of bringing the gospel to the
marketplace of ideas. This session focuses on Paul's defense in Athens. The goal is to
understand one’s mission of bringing Jesus into the marketplace of ideas in our post -
Christian culture. The project director would agree with Copan and Litwak, who stated in
their book, The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas, that Western culture today resembles
relativism as described in the book of Judges: Everyone did what was right in his [or
her] own eyes (Judges 21:25 NASB).154 Therefore, the once Judeo-Christian ethic that
has generally served as the basis for law in the Western World has been discarded in
many ways. The situation one finds oneself in today’s culture begs the question: How
can one effectively and authentically tell people about Jesus? In this section, participants
will consider what place philosophy plays in apologetics and gain a greater
understanding of the art of persuasion.
Book 3: Practical Apologetics for Everyday Life
In session one, the mission is to give a defense for understanding and employing
reason in a post-Christian culture. The project director serves as a mentor at Mighty
Oaks, a Christian-based recovery program for veterans and first responders. Recently, a
gentleman who had served as a marine sniper and recently as an L.A. police officer came
154 Copan and Litwak, 11.
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through the program. He had seen his share of horrific death and suffering. His first
statement was, “There is no God.” If there were a God, then all the immense suffering in
the world would not exist. For him, the grief he had experienced was so overwhelming
that it indicated that God could not exist. The project director's response was
straightforward and stopped the conversation (at least for a while). The project director’s
statement was, “What makes you think God is responsible for such things?” Peter is
writing to a group of suffering people in 1 Peter 3:15. In his article, “How can I be Ready
to Defend my Faith,” Scott Oliphint states the following:
The Christian perspective on suffering is in diametrical opposition to the
world's view, which is unsurprising. There is an antithesis between Christian
and non-Christian; as we said, one is either in Christ or Adam. That antithesis
is not merely theoretical. It applies to the way we think, the way we act, and
the way we view the world. Amid his readers’ suffering, Peter gives this
command: “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to
make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that
is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15, NASB).155
The apologetic phase of the project will seek to determine what the person believes,
why they believe what they believe, and, based on this knowledge, how they should
respond. The project director will also consider the role of relational apologetics in
one’s reasonable defense.
Session two will explore the mission to bring reason, conscience, and imagination
to the post-Christian culture. The art and challenge of cultural apologetics is to have
genuine missionary encounters in one’s culture. In an article by Tim Keller titled “How
to Have an Effective Missionary Encounter,” he asserts that “missionary encounters with
155 Scott K. Oliphint, “How Can I be Ready to Defend the Hope I Have,” Crossway (2022)
https://www.crossway.org/articles/how-can-i-be-ready-to-defend-the-hope-i-have/.
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the early Roman society were both offense and attraction, confrontation, and persuasion.
Christianity did not adapt to culture to draw more adherents, but neither did it remain a
small, withdrawn band. Christians confronted and critiqued culture, and believers
suffered the cost.”156 Pascal notes there are only three sorts of people: those who have
found God and serve Him, those who are busy seeking Him and have not seen Him, and
those who live without seeking or discovering Him. According to Pascal, the first are
reasonable and happy; the last are foolish and unhappy; those in the middle are unhappy
and unreasonable.157 According to Paul Gould, in his book Cultural Apologetics, such an
assertion is not that simplistic. Gould suggests that with society's disenchantment, it has
become increasingly difficult for those whom God finds, let alone the seeker and non-
seeker, to believe or even understand that happiness is understood in terms of friendship
with God.158 Cultural apologetics seeks the re-enchantment or reawakening within
oneself and others the deeper desires of the heart for truth, goodness, and beauty, which
will, in turn, bring the heart’s deepest desire, which is a love for God.
Session three considers defending one’s faith using covenantal apologetics. This
session aims to explore the process of covenantal apologetics, drawing from the ten
tenets of covenantal apologetics. The study of traditional apologetics and the defense of
one’s Biblical worldview has taken somewhat of a hibernation during the twentieth
century.
156 Tim Keller, “How to have an Effective Missionary Encounter with Culture,” The Gospel
Coalition, (2017) https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-to-have-effective-missionary-encounter-
with-culture/.
157Pascal, Pensee.
158Gould, 68.
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Atheists contend that all divine religion is nothing more than a human invention created
to keep a man in awe, and the Scriptures are but the device of man’s brain. Scott Oliphint
contends in his book Conventional Apologetics that “unless one accepts the bible for
what it says and what it is, there would be no real solution to the faith and reason
problem.”159 As stated, Christian apologetics is the application of Biblical truth to
unbelief. The goal of this section is to bring the unbeliever to the table of Biblical
conversation.
Session four will explore Christianity among other world religions. It is not a
secret that one lives in a pluralistic society where people see Christianity as one among
many choices. There are more professing Christians who have bought into the lie that if
one is sincere, all religions lead to the same place. The question that an unbelieving
world seeks an answer to is why Christianity is among all the other world religions.
According to George Braswell in his book Understanding World Religions, there are
several reasons why people should desire to communicate across religious communities.
The most practical reason, however, relates to our pluralistic society and the need to
understand how to evangelize and reach the world for Christ.160 This session aims to
expose learners to different world religions and the significant differences between them
and Christianity.
159Scott K. Oliphint, Conventional Apologetics: Principles and Practice I Defense of our Faith
(Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Publishing, 2013), Kindle, Location 420.
160 George W. Braswell Jr., Understanding World Religions (Nashville, Tn.: B&H, 1994), Kindle,
293-301.
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Logistics
The project aims to develop a cohesive ministry plan to create new kinds of TJC
apologists. Therefore, the project will take place over three weekends: one session on
Friday evening, two on Saturday morning, and one on Saturday afternoon. Each session
will be live-streamed and recorded for those unavailable for each teaching session. All
sessions will be held at TJC at 5300 Bunny Trail in Killeen, Texas. TJC is the logical
location for the project because it is where the new apologetics method will be deployed.
TJC also contains an open floor plan in the worship center, making setting up and taking
down tables for table-talk groups readily accessible. TJC is also where the project
director serves as senior pastor. Logistically, the project director also has built a
continuation of the teaching time into the marketplace where the students live, work, and
play.
Measurement Devices
The project will measure its success using the following measurements: 1) pre-
and post-evaluation assessing the overall effectiveness of the project. The evaluation is
designed in such a way as to gauge whether participants have grown throughout the
training process. The evaluation will also measure whether the participant gains the
teaching skills necessary to replicate the process with new apologists (see Appendix 1 for
pre/post-evaluations). 2) Collaborative learning will also evaluate the project's success.
Participants will be assigned table-talk groups led by a table leader appointed by the
project director. Each session will conclude by collaborating with group members on a
practical action step from the week's teaching to deploy in their daily lives. Group
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members will return to the next teaching evolution and discuss the success or failure of
the action step with their team members. 3) Table leaders will receive an evaluation sheet
following each teaching evolution to assess the success of the collaboration within each
group (See Appendix 1 for table talk leaders' evaluation sheet). 4) Each participant will
pair off with someone from their table talk group to review the questionnaire from the
preceding week's teaching. The following exercise will evaluate the retention and
understanding of each week's concepts (see Appendix 1 for review questions). The
project director will be the table-talk leader for those participating via live stream or
recorded media. Following the teaching evolutions, the project director will gather all
data received and use it to evaluate the success and improvement areas for creating a new
kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture.
Project Expenses
The following is a list of projected expenses throughout the project process,
including food and refreshments for the teaching sessions and anticipated printing costs.
$150 – Friday evening coffee and refreshments.
$150 – Saturday Morning breakfast.
$300 – Saturday afternoon lunch.
$300 – Childcare.
$150 – Printing workbooks for students.
$200 – Rag Velum Paper.
$100 – Printing.
$150 – Online Survey Service.
Assumptions
Based on the information gathered in the study, the project operates under several
key assumptions. These assumptions are assumed to be accurate: not just theoretical
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constructs but practical guidelines that inform the project's approach and methods.
Assumption #1: Few Christians today have the Biblical knowledge necessary to defend
scripture well. Many Christians today see their faith as something personal that they keep
to themselves. Thus, pragmatism in the biblical community where religion is privatized
and the nature of what is promising changes. People cannot be salt in the world if the salt
never leaves the saltshaker; however, they will become the salt and light the world needs
with a proper spiritual foundation. In a recent Barna research group report, pastors list
their top concerns for the Christian church.161 The top five address the problem of the
church having to do with Biblical truth. (See survey in Appendix 4). Assumption #2:
Giving a reasonable defense is more than merely providing an impressive, well-devised
apologetic method. The post-Christian world wants to see our reasonable defense lived
out authentically by its adherents, not just a well-crafted and designed speech.
Assumption #3: Discipleship that is apologetic is an intentional long-term process, not a
list of rules presented over a few weeks for living the Christian life. An increasing
number of people see Christian morality as not only old-fashioned but also extreme and
dangerous. When individualism becomes the dominant view of our post-Christian
culture, the church's teaching finds itself seen as irrelevant and wrong. The recent decline
in regular church attendance and those going apostate within the church bear the
assumption. These assumptions are not just theoretical constructs but practical guidelines
that inform the project's approach and methods.
161 Barna Research Group, https://www.barna.com/research/whats_on_mind_americas_pastors/.
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Limitations
The following is a list of the project’s limitations, including its participants, time
frame, physical and mental abilities, and geographic location.
1) The project is limited to selected members of TJC and other participants who
have connections with the project director.
2) The project is limited to three prescribed weekends, including training evolution
one on November 17th and 18th, training evolution two on December 15th and
16th, and training evolution three on January 12th and 13th.
3) The project is limited to cultural apologetics in a post-Christian culture.
4) The project is limited to one instructor developing a method for creating new
kinds of apologists for a post-Christian culture.
Conclusion
The early Christians before Constantine were highly persecuted for being too
exclusive, narrow, and strange. The church, however, grew extensively during those
times, especially in the urban areas. Thus, doctrine for everyday life gives an apologetic
that is both high and street level. Affirming our doctrinal beliefs in daily life does not
diminish or weaken our effectiveness in the fabric of society. Like the early church, we
should live as an alternative society. Such a distinction defines what it looks like to
engage culture in everyday life. One should find themselves marked as strikingly
ethnically diverse people. One should be known for civility in building bridges for those
who oppose us. One should be seen for its generosity to the least of these in society. One
should have a counterculture message for the sanctity of life and a clear Biblical view on
human sexuality. Finally, one must be diligent in bringing the "faithful presence” of
Jesus Christ into its places of vocation (where we work), location (where we live), and
recreation (where we play). Next, the project director will compile the data learned from
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the project and present an assessment of the effectiveness and the areas needing
improvement.
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CHAPTER 5
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
This chapter will highlight the collaborative nature of the project, emphasizing
the shared effort in implementing and gathering research for a new process to create a
new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. In close collaboration with all
participants, the project director implemented and applied the results and discrepancies of
the project. The assessment process included a collective effort that included table talk-
back questions after each teaching session, a post-participant survey, and table talk
leaders' follow-up evaluation following each teaching evolution. The information
gathered from pre- and post-surveys regarding the overall project success and room for
improvement was a testament to the collective dedication and the shared commitment to
progress.
Finally, the cross-analysis of the talk-back session surveys, pre-and post-surveys, further
highlights the collaborative approach. This chapter will examine and disseminate the
project's implementation process, a testament to the shared journey.
Project Implementation Process
The project consisted of three books, as described in chapter four. Each book
consisted of multiple teaching sessions followed by a table-talk discussion led by a table
leader.162 All implementations of teaching sessions went according to the plan in chapter
four. First, each participant participated in a pre-project assessment to determine their
understanding and engagement in apologetics and the discipleship process. For those
162 For participant workbooks and outlines, see Appendix 2.
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attending in person, the project sessions consisted of twenty to thirty minutes of
instructor-led teaching and twenty to thirty minutes of table talk discussion. During a
typical teaching environment, the following project would consist of up to three months
of teaching that would take place at least once a week during the teaching evolution. The
project, however, took place over three weekends for time's sake. Following each
teaching weekend, participants completed a post-session assessment survey. The
assessment surveys have two purposes: 1) To gauge the continued growth of each
participant throughout the project and 2) To give the project director data to determine
areas for improvement in the project. The assessment surveys have two purposes: 1) To
gauge the continued growth of each participant throughout the project and 2) To give the
project director data to determine areas for improvement in the project.
The project director also offered a livestream option for those participating
remotely or unable to attend in person. Each participant watched the teaching session via
our YouTube channel and completed online talk-back questions to gauge comprehension
and engagement in the learning process. The online questions mirrored the in-class
questions used by those participating in person. Participants engaging in the project
online also took the post-session assessment survey. The project director acted as the
online participant's guide and table talk leader throughout this journey. Next, the results
of indirect measurement devices used throughout the project will be considered.
Results of Indirect Measurement
The first step in the project involved participants taking the pre-project survey. The
survey aimed to determine where each participant was regarding apologetics and the
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discipleship process, allowing the project director to measure the improvement level by
the end of the project.
Q1. What is your age?
Choice Totals
•18-25 2
•25-30 5
•30-35 5
•35-45 10
•45-50 2
•over 50 13
Graph 1.1 Pre-project survey.163
Q3. How Long have you been attending your Current Church?
Choice Totals
•less than one year 6
•1 to 2 years 16
•3 to 4 years 6
•5 to 10 years 3
•over ten years 6
Graph 1.2 Pre-project survey.
163 Source used: https://s.surveyplanet.com/d3f1uwqt.
109
Q4. Have you ever personally and intentionally been discipled by someone?
Choice Total
• yes 21
•no 16
Graph 1.3 Pre-project survey.
Q5 Outside of your children, are you intentionally and regularly discipling an
individual or handful of people in the hopes that they will grow as gospel-
centered worshipers in the community who serve and multiply their lives in
others?
Choice Total
•Yes 13
•No, not currently 23
Graph 1.4 Pre-project survey.
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Q6. Are you consistently or regularly discipling your children in hopes that they
might become or grow as gospel-centered worshipers in the community who
serve and multiply their lives in others?
Choice Total
• Yes 23
• No 6
•I do not have children 8
Graph 1.5 Pre-project survey.
Q7. How many meaningful Biblical conversations have you had with someone
outside your family or Church network in the past month?
Choice Total
1 10
2 5
3 8
Four or more 13
Graph 1.6 Pre-project survey.
Q8. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest, how
prepared do you feel to give a reasonable defense for your hope in Christ Jesus?
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Scale 1.1 Pre-project survey.
Q9. How prepared do you feel to give a coherent Biblical worldview on a scale of
1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest?
Scale 1.2 Pre-project survey.
Q10. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest, how
equipped do you feel to disciple another person in the faith?
Scale 1.3 Pre-project survey.
Q11. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest, how
involved would you like to be in arranging personal discipleship relationships?
Scale 1.4 Pre-project survey.
Q12. On a scale of 1-5, how confident do you feel about teaching someone the
core doctrines of the Faith as found in scripture? One needs to be more confident,
and five needs to be very confident.
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Scale 1.5 Pre-project survey.
Q13 On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest, how
confident do you feel in presenting an argument from a Biblical perspective on
complex issues people may have for not believing in the God of the Bible?
Scale 1.6 Pre-project survey.
Q14. On a scale of 1-5, how do you feel that your lack of knowledge and
understanding about how the Bible relates to science and history impedes your
ability to have Biblical conversations with non-Christians? One is that it has very
little to do with your ability, and five is that it has an extreme effect on your
ability. With non-Christians?
Scale 1.7 Pre-project survey.
Q15 On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest, how
do you feel that your inability to respond to the atheist or agnostic impedes your
ability to move people toward Christ?
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Scale 1.8 Pre-project survey.
Q16. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least secure and five extremely
confident, how confident do you feel in responding to atheists or agnostics in
secular challenges to their faith?
Scale 1.9 Pre-project survey.
Q17. How often have you had meaningful biblical conversations with your family
in the past month?
Choice Total
Graph 1.7 Pre-project survey.
Q18. How intentional are you as a representative of Christ about how you order
your weekly, monthly, and yearly life? With one being very little intentionality
and five being great intentionality
•
1 5
•2 2
•3 7
•four or more 23
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There are several notables from the pre-project survey. The survey indicates that
a wide range of ages participated in the project. The number of individuals intentionally
discipled at some point in their spiritual development showed that nearly half were
discipled, and half were not. The project director assumed the number of people
intentionally discipled would be lower. Most participants, however, agreed they must be
more engaged and proactive in regular discipleship relationships. Even though most of
the participants agreed that they feel confident in their ability to give a reasonable
defense for the gospel, the majority admitted that their inability to respond to the agnostic
and atheist impedes their ability to move people toward Christ. The survey also revealed
that many participants acknowledged that understanding how the Bible relates to science
and history impedes their ability to have Biblical conversations with non-Christians.
Most questions dealing with one's confidence in their ability to share the gospel
effectively and deploy apologetics in the present culture were in the middle to lower
range.
The second method of indirect evaluation took place during each table talk session
following the teaching sessions. The project director observed the following results:
1. The participant's ability to wrestle with difficult questions regarding faith and life.
2. The 'participants' ability to admit deficient or faulty thinking.
3. The 'participants' actively engaged in the learning process.
Direct Measurement Devices
Next, we will explore the direct measurement devices used beginning with book
one of the post-session participant surveys, Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life.
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Scale 2.0 Pre-project survey.
Q1. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least and five being the greatest, how
effective do you feel Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life will be in helping
teach core doctrines to new disciples of Christ?
Scale 2.1 Talk-back Book 1.
Q2 On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least effective and five being the most
effective, how effective do you think Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life is at
effectively teaching complex Biblical principles for everyday life?
Scale
2.2 Talk-back Book 1.
Q3. What is one new precept or idea that you learned from this session that will
be useful to deploy in your everyday life? i.e., (new term, new idea, a new
method, etc.)
Participant Answer
P20
P19
P17
In session 5, one of the goals was to understand the gospel of
sanctification. Something that stood out to me was that
sanctification is a lifelong process. It is something that you will not
complete in this life.
Understanding what it looks like to live out the image of God
in all you do.
Reflecting on the doctrine of Creation and focusing on this is
not our home; this is not the end. While I know this truth, I don’t live day
to day thinking about that.
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P16 To start with the beginning…creation.
P15 The in-depth meaning of the sovereignty of God.
P12 Original sin refers to the result of the first sin.
P11 The difference between inerrant and infallible and the
Sufficiency of Scripture.
P8 Scripture to support the doctrines of Christianity that we
discussed in class to help when defending/ explaining my
faith to others. Our hearts lie, which goes against everything
we are taught from a young age.
P6 A better way to explain the inerrancy and authority of
scripture.
P3 We are still in a war between the flesh, which can never be
perfect until death, and the Spirit, longing to agree with God,
has a mindset on Jesus’s return (to be one with us). His
Sanctification of us is a process.
P2 The idea that Love is a creative force that, out of its fullness,
wants to be shared with an open hand rather than a closed fist.
Essay 1.0 Talk-back book 1.
Q4. What precept or idea do you need help grasping and understanding from the
previous teaching session?
Participant Answer
P19
P15
P14
P12
P11
God's plan over evil is a complex concept to grasp. Even though I have
heard and know of his sovereignty, my mind still struggles at times with
seeing that he let some evil slip through the cracks and somehow it might
not be something he planned for
The Doctrine of Justification and Sanctification.
The idea of the empty self: emptying myself to allow Jesus to fill me up!
The holiness and sovereignty of God.
The difference between inerrancy and inspiration.
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P9 God’s imputed righteousness to man. Forgiveness and debt paid is one
thing, but to make us righteous is hard to grasp.
P8 I grasp the concept of God's incomprehensibility. Sometimes, it boggles
my mind that I will always have more to learn about God.
P4 I don’t necessarily struggle with it, but grasping the sovereignty and
wonder of God is mind-blowing.
P3 I am still trying to figure out that we are not entirely perfect because of
Jesus’s finished work. The part of us that is His Holy Spirit is sanctified
and convicted—maybe it depends on our perspective or who has died in
the flesh. If we have been baptized, utterly dead to the flesh, why can't
we, as clean souls, be taken up at any time, the body falling off as no
longer applicable to reach other souls?
P2 Sanctification. The idea that the Lord would command us to do something
we can't attain even with His help troubles me. I will have to continue
praying and studying on this one.
Essay 1.1 Talk-back book 1.
Book two Participant talk-back survey, Engaging Culture in Everyday Life.
Q1. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least and five being the greatest, how
effective do you feel Engaging Culture in everyday life was in helping prepare
you to apply a Biblical worldview in the culture where you live?
Scale 2.3 Talk-back book 2.
Q2. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least effective and five being the most
effective, how effective do you think Engaging Culture in Everyday Life is at
effectively teaching the challenges of having a Biblical worldview for everyday
life?
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Scale 2.4 Talk-back book 2.
Q3. What is one new precept idea or concept that you learned from this session
that will be useful to deploy in your everyday life? i.e. (a new term, idea, method,
etc.)
Participant Answer
P1 The concept of the empty self and its characteristics were new.
P2
P4
P5
P7.
P10
The idea of the “empty self,” what it means, and how we protect ourselves
and the church. We are renewing the mind.
Not to be content with worldly viewpoints but to hold everything against
God's Word and will.
Since "we all tend to hide behind spiritual masks," I need to discern the
reality behind the mask, both in myself and others.
Thinking through and expressing my Biblical Worldview can be effective
in outreach and determining how I view the role God has placed me in. I
want to know how to identify and write down my Christian worldview.
I had never previously considered Scripture to have a “worldview.” It was
incredible how it was broken down and explained.
Essay 1.2 Talk-back book 2.
Q4. What precept or idea do you struggle to grasp and understand the most
from the previous teaching session?
Participant Answer
P11
P12
What a biblical worldview is not.
I love the point that “a biblical worldview does not come by accident. It
requires intentionality.” We can’t just go daily without effort, except our
minds, to focus on God. We must be true
disciples and seek the Lord in all things. Cheap grace versus costly grace.
Good terminology to explain true grace.
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P13
P14
P15
P17
Understanding the difference between the framework of atomic, oceanic,
and relational worldviews.
Stretching my mind. Jesus dealt with the mind and intellect abundantly in
Scripture. I need to use my mind more in my growth and walk with Christ
and how I engage the culture.
I liked the World View questions. Who are we? Where are we? What is
wrong? How do we fix it? It helps to break things in life down in a way
that can easily be tied back to the Bible. Which, in turn, helps to keep us
focused on God and what we are called to do.
The ability to explain the difference between biblical and American
worldviews.
Essay 1.3 Talk-back book 2.
Q4. What precept or idea do you need help grasping and understanding from the
previous teaching session?
Participant Answer
P2
P4
P8
P10
P11
P13
P14
To stand firm and strong in the scriptures and biblical lifestyle when
culture differs from accepting the Bible and most Christians.
How to relate to the world but walk the line of faith in every situation.
Forming proper habits in my mind.
How hard it truly is to live in this world and live a godly life. This means
the world is so naturally against God’s worldview.
Frameworks in which worldviews are understood.
The biblical worldview is hindered by doing the same thing in the same
old way. This is my biggest struggle, as I know I am a creature of habit,
and sometimes breaking those habits is difficult.
I struggle with patience with people who do not believe what I believe. I
don't struggle to grasp it as much as I struggle to overcome it.
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Essay 1.4 Talk-back book 2.
Q1. On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being the least and 5 being the greatest, how
effective was the study at preparing you to engage post-Christian culture with
everyday apologetics?
Scale 2.5 Talk-back book 2.
Book three participant talk-back survey, Practical Apologetics for Everyday Life.
Q1. On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being the least and 5 being the greatest, how
effective was the study at preparing you to engage post-Christian culture with
everyday apologetics?
Scale 2.6 Talk-back book 3.
Q2. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least effective and five being the most
effective, how effective do you think “Engaging Culture with Everyday
Apologetics” is at helping prepare you for the challenges of everyday
apologetics?
Scale 2.7 Talk-back book 3.
Q3. What is one new precept idea or concept that you learned from this session
that will be useful to deploy in your everyday life? i.e. (a new term, idea, method,
etc.)
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Participant
P22
Answer
The methods on how to talk to people of other religions.
P21
P20
P19
P18
P17
P16
P15
P14
P13
P12
P11
P10
P9
P8
The methods and conversations we can have with people of various
religions will be instrumental when encountering people from those
prevalent religions.
I like how the book broke down how to give a defense. It showed
very well that by listening to other people, you can hear their hearts.
It did a good job connecting it to the Bible.
Syllogism and understanding and breaking down others’ beliefs and
reasoning.
Asking the right questions to help me know where to begin.
Asking the person’s beliefs or views, listening to find common
ground, and responding shows genuine care for the individual.
Plausibility culture. Understanding what plausibility culture is and
what drives it will assist me in forming a defense for my faith in
Jesus.
How to focus on the similarities with other religions to reach
people.
How to talk to unbelievers in a biblical context instead of just
beating them down with words!
Understanding what other Religions value and believe in to aid in
support of my apologetics approach.
Knowledge of a small number of some of the various thoughts that
might drive those specific outlooks that could potentially help
during certain conversations.
Focusing on their words rather than my response, learning to ask
questions to help summarize what they just said and write down
their points of view.
Meeting them where they are at and not arguing with them.
The aspect of loving God with your mind. We weren’t created to be
dumb or ignorant. So, engaging the brain more in faith seems like a
new concept, but it’s not; it’s throughout Scripture and not heavily
taught.
I learned about several religions, their core beliefs, and how they
differ from Christianity.
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P7 What do other religions believe, and how do we learn what they
think without being judgmental? We need to be able to share what
it means to believe in Jesus.
P6 What do other religions believe, and how do we learn what
they think without being judgmental? We should be able to
share what it means to believe in Jesus.
P5 I don’t know if I learned a new idea, but I learned about the main
points of the most “popular” religions to better understand how
they work and what they believe.
P4 Having a better understanding of the other major religions will
help me better relate to people of those religions when talking to
them about Jesus.
P3 Be audience-centered instead of speaker-centered and listen well.
P2 Being gentle and respectful in all relationships.
P1 Asking questions.
Essay 1.5 Talk-back book 3.
Q4. What precept or idea do you need help grasping and understanding from the
previous teaching session?
Participant
P20
P19
P18
P17
P14
P13
Answer
I need help applying a Biblical worldview in today's society;
staying in the right mindset can be challenging some days.
The art of persuasion. It sounds simple on paper, but applying it is
difficult for me.
Explaining the difference between a biblical worldview and an
American worldview.
combines everything and keeps it in order.
World religions only because there are so many differences.
As a newcomer to the Christian faith, I found it challenging to
grasp. Fortunately, many people were more mature in faith and
were able to assist me through discussion.
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P11
P9
P7
P6
The hardest precept to grasp is training myself to remember their
point of view and make connections to that.
I don’t really struggle with it, but as previously mentioned, I would
like to engage my brain more in the biblical concept of loving the
Lord with all my mind.
Implementing the information learned effectively. Practical
application.
Being bold enough but wise enough to stand firm when confronted
with a situation in which one does not want to believe in God.
P1 Dealing with fervent believers of other world religions.
Essay 1.6 Talk-back book 3.
Q5. On a scale of 1-5, one is not at all, and five is very much. How clear and
effective do you feel the following material is at facilitating and developing the
skills necessary for deploying effective apologetics in a post-Christian culture?
Scale 2.8 Talk-back book 3.
Next, each project participant participated in a post-project survey—the exit
survey aimed to gauge the project's effectiveness in creating new kinds of apologists.
The data received from the study will be invaluable in helping to refine and define the
process.
Q1. On a scale of 1-5, how prepared do you feel after completing the project to
share the core doctrines of the faith? With one needing to prepare more and 5
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being very ready.
Scale 2.8 post-project survey.
Q2. After participating in the project, which of the following doctrines of the
faith do you feel is the most prepared to give a reasonable defense? (You can
choose as many three doctrines or as little as 1.)
Choice Totals
•Doctrine of the 8
Sufficiency of Scripture
•Doctrine of God 5
•Doctrine of Holiness 4
•Doctrine of the 9
Sovereignty of God
•Doctrine of Creation 12
•Doctrine of Original Sin 1
• Doctrine of justification 9
• Doctrine of Sanctification 4
Graph 1.8 Post-project survey.
Q3. After the following study, how prepared do you feel to defend or give an
answer about the hope you have in Christ Jesus? One needs to prepare more,
and five are very ready.
Scale 2.9 post-project survey.
Q4. After attending the project, how prepared do you feel to bring Jesus into the
marketplace of ideas? One represents the need to prepare more, and five are very
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ready.
Scale 3.0 post-project survey.
Q5. After finishing the project, which areas of engaging everyday life do
you feel most prepared for? (You can choose as many as three areas or as little as
1)
Choice Totals
The ability to give a defense by
asking the right question.
The ability to make disciples who
obey all His commands.
The ability to discern the difference 11
between true and false disciples
The ability to bring Jesus into the 5
the marketplace of ideas.
The ability to understand what
Place Philosophy plays a role in one's apologetics.
The ability to bring our reason, 7
conscious and imaginative to a
post-Christian culture.
The ability to live at the margins 3
of our culture and society.
The ability to communicate a 14
Biblical worldview.
The ability to create a mature Christian
mind for a post-Christian Culture.
Graph 1.9 Post-project survey.
Each teaching session was followed by a table-talk time led by two table-talk
leaders. The purpose of the final survey is to gain feedback from table-talk leaders on the
effectiveness of the project in presenting the precepts and how the project may be
Table Talk LeaderAnswer
TL2How to respond to people who rely solely on logic or science as their
reasons for unbelief.
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improved in the future. The following information is beneficial to the project director in
ensuring that the teaching material and methods are conducive to creating a new kind of
apologist for a post-Christian culture.
Q1. If you had to choose one part of the project that you feel is the strongest, what would
it be and why?
Table Talk Leader
TL2 Answer
The most vital part would be giving people a starting point
for defending their faith. The project provides detailed
questions to ask, how to apply scripture, and even how to
incorporate other religious beliefs into our defense.
TL1
The defense of our beliefs. This can be the hardest thing to
do because we might need to be more assertive, but it is the most
important thing.
Essay 1.6 TL post-project survey.
Q2. What is one precept, idea, or concept in the study that generated the most discussion
and or debate?
Table Talk Leader
TL2
TL1
Answer
Other world religions and how they correlate with our
beliefs.
God’s sovereignty
Essay 1.7 TL post-project survey.
Q3. What is one precept, idea, or concept that you would have liked to see added to or
expanded upon in the project and why?
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TL1 More examples and explanations about using scripture
to defend the faith.
Essay 1.8 TL post-project survey.
Q4. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all and 5 being very much, how prepared do
you feel the following project is at preparing apologists for the post-Christian culture?
Scale 3.1 TL post-project survey.
Q5. What part of the project was the weakest or most challenging to understand?
Table Talk Leader
TL2 Answer
Understanding our Athens. People in the group
struggled to answer the talk-back questions. That is the
one section where the group needed the most guidance
to answer all the questions.
TL1 World religions.
Essay 1.9 TL post-project survey.
Q6. How effective would the following project be for new believers in being influential
apologists in a post-Christian culture? Table Talk Leader Answer.
Table Talk Leader
TL2
Answer
The project is very effective. Even though some topics
are easier understood with prior scriptural and biblical
knowledge, the project provides a wealth of scripture
references. So that even new believers can see that the
concepts are biblical. It even provides a lengthy list of
scriptures to memorize, helping you as a new apologist.
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TL1 The project was efficient in its precepts and
methods throughout the project.
Essay 2.0 TL post-project survey.
Unforeseen Causes
The following unforeseen causes affected the overall project either positively or
negatively.
First, having such a diverse group of people participating in the project benefited
the evaluation process; however, at times, the language used became less accessible for
all levels of education and biblical knowledge—even words like 'precepts' required a
robust definition. Secondly, the project was initially scheduled for nine hours of teaching
and discussion, three hours on Friday evening and six hours on Saturday. After the first
session, however, the conclusion became clear that the project director could disseminate
the information for the remaining two sessions into five to six hours of instruction. The
project director canceled the Friday meeting and moved all remaining sessions to
Saturday. Thirdly, while the project director defined the time frame for those
participating, some found the time commitment too daunting to finish the project.
Fourthly, the post-session survey intended to evoke a quick response to the overall
impression of each session. The questions, however, failed to elicit an adequate response
regarding whether complete learning and comprehension occurred. The post-project
survey elicited a more precise and discerning response regarding the fuller
comprehension and learning process. Fifthly, while the project has an academic element,
the overall reaction to the subject suggests a high level of engagement beyond the
merely
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academic aspect of the project. Participants genuinely showed a desire to increase their
knowledge of scripture as well as their ability to gain the skills necessary to fulfill the
Great Commission.
Unforeseen Effects
The collaborative project revealed the challenge of conveying large amounts of
information on a level that all participants can easily digest. In anticipation of some gaps
in understanding, the project director recognized the need for further explanation to
ensure adequate learning. The compressed timeline of three weekends highlighted the
necessity to extend the project by at least one more weekend. The need for more sessions
also underscored the importance of subdividing some weightier precepts, such as 'the
sovereignty of God' and 'World Religions,' into more than one session. The survey, a tool
intended to assist the project director in determining the participants' level of learning and
comprehension, needed to be revised to include more essay-type questions to elicit the
learners to answer with a well-thought-out explanation of their answers. This contrasts
with the more practical scale method of gauging the participant's level of learning. The
project's success was evident in the theological engagement it fostered between
intergenerational people who usually would not interact in doctrinal and theological
understanding. The lack of a fully formed Biblical Worldview resulted in a more
significant inability for participants to deploy apologetics into everyday life. Such a
deficiency hindered students' ability to contextualize the gospel in a post-Christian
culture. The failure to succinctly deploy apologetics confirmed the need for the ongoing
thesis of the project.
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Conclusion
The project aims to create new kinds of apologists for a post-Christian culture.
The result is transformative, echoing Paul's conclusion to the Athenians at the
Areopagus. As Paul declared, "In Him, we live and move and have our being." (Acts
17:28). Paul's purpose was to introduce the God of the Bible, the creator of the universe,
giver and sustainer of life, ruler of the nations, and the one true God who is close enough
to reveal Himself to those who seek Him. No other words more succinctly point to
constant dependence on God. The project director concludes that such an assertion
displays itself in the project results. Participants gained the skills and knowledge to be
better apologists for the present culture. Without a daily, close, deep, abiding relationship
with the God of the universe, however, all the knowledge and skills in the world will
remain pointless and unsuccessful.
Understanding that all of life intricately weaves itself into God's divine plan for
His creation, the project's participants not only gained the skills and resources necessary
to deploy a more robust defense of the gospel in the world where they live, but they also
gained a greater perspective of a life lived out for the gospel in everyday life. No process
is foolproof and without flaws, including this project; however, future apologists can take
solace in the fact that a solid foundation is now laid for the apologists yet to come.
Finally, the closing chapter will address each part of the project while rendering a verdict
on the original purpose statement. It will also emphasize the crucial role of a close, deep,
abiding relationship with the God of the universe in the success of future projects and the
fulfillment of our mission.
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CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The project's beginning institutes the explicit intention to develop a process for
creating a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. Chapter 6 proposes to draw
conclusions and summarize the project's original purpose to provide a measure of
success. The findings and measurements are drawn from the assessments of five chapters
dedicated to the dissertation process.
Chapter 1 identifies the problem in the project director's ministry setting that
needs to be solved. The problem consists of poorly formed, informed, and transformed
followers of Christ. Chapter 2 introduces the Biblical rationale for the project. The
Biblical reasoning is three-fold: (1) Jesús’s call in Matthew 28:18-29 to go and make
disciples who observe everything He has commanded them to follow; (2) Peter’s
instruction in 1 Peter 3:15 to always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks
where our great hope comes from; and (3) Paul’s example in Acts 17:22-34 addressing
the Athenian philosophers using a cultural worldview which builds a statue to a god that
cannot be named moving his audience towards a Biblical worldview by identifying the
God of the universe that can be named. Chapter 3 introduces the research and discovery
phase of the project. The research uncovered a lack of moral absolutes, a propensity of
culture towards individualism, and the move towards watering down primary doctrines in
favor of tertiary doctrines as the impetus behind poorly formed followers of Christ. In
Chapter 4, the project director worked to implement a project to address the problems
presented in Chapter 1. The objectives and goals listed in Chapter 4 are intended to
create
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an intentional component of the discipleship process that moves beyond the cerebral
aspect to the kinesthetic application of the process. Finally, chapter 5 concludes the
project phase by presenting pre- and post-survey results, student chapter surveys, talk-
back group session critiques, and table leader post-assessment surveys. Each of these
components is intended to gauge the effectiveness or lack thereof in the project.
General Project Evaluation
Hypothesis Evaluation
In his book Reasonable Faith, William Lane Craig concludes that “the ultimate
apologetic involves two relationships: one’s relationship with God and one's relationship
with others.1 Jesus determined such relationships in His teaching on the duty of man.
Jesus identifies the two most significant relationships as a person's love for God and love
for others.2 Craig goes on to postulate that loving God should be life's preoccupation. In
his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer concludes that our primary aim is learning to know
God. Packer goes on to state:
We both can and must set our life priorities straight. From current Christian
publications, you might think that the most vital issue for any Christian in the
world today is social witness, dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or
refuting this or that. Many, however, in our culture today need to focus on what
was, is, and always will be our priority: learning to know God in Christ.3
The hypothetical presupposition of the project suggests that the church does not need
more apologetic methods but better formed, informed, and transformed followers of
1 Craig, Reasonable Fatih: Christian Truth and Apologetics, 405.
2 Ibid.
3 J. I Packer, Knowing God, 314.
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Christ. Learning to know God is at the heart of the discipleship process. The project
director's motivation behind starting the project rests on discovering how to lead people
to know God more fully as disciples of Christ and how to implement such knowledge in
one’s daily life. According to Jesus, our love is a sign to all people that we are His
disciples (John 13:35), and even). Even more than that, our love and unity prove to the
world that God the Father has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and that the Father loves people
even as he loves Jesus. Craig suggests that “more often than not, who you are rather than
what you say will bring an unbeliever to Christ.”4 Therefore, the project hypothesis's
success hinges on the ultimate apologetic, a person's life. Next, we will review the study
thus far and make conclusions and recommendations for future studies.
Overview
It's clear that the existing discipleship models have not adequately prepared the
church for the challenges of a post-Christian culture. We live in a society that is one of
the most biblically illiterate and un-churched in history. This study suggests that the
processes of discipleship and apologetics are inseparably linked. A proficient disciple of
Christ must have the skills and knowledge to defend the faith. Past discipleship models
seem to be short-term and lacking in comprehensiveness. The project director argues that
effective discipleship is a long-term and thoroughly comprehensive endeavor. Jesus
spent over three years developing twelve men before sending them out into the world.
Should
4 Craig, 407.
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the current church expect anything less? The main goal of this study is to advocate for
creating a new discipleship model that integrates apologetics.
Some of the past reasons given for a short-term and less comprehensive approach
to discipleship include the following: (1) If we make it too complicated or demanding,
people will not follow through (basically lowering the bar for success); (2) People are
too busy, so if we make it too long, they will quit; (3) We should leave the more
profound theological knowledge training to the professional pastors.
The project director contends that many, yet sadly not all, followers of Christ are
hungry for a challenge and will step up to the challenge when engaged in a
straightforward discipleship process. Regarding the need for a shorter process due to the
busyness of life, the project director believes that culture will always find time for what
is most significant and worthwhile; finally, in response to the argument that we should
leave the deep theological knowledge and training to professional theologians, all
Christians are called to be theologians. In his book Warfield on the Christian Life, Fred
Zaspel contends that for Benjamin Warfield, “theology is not some added optional
dimension to the Christian life: it is the very stuff of Christian living.”5 In his article
“Every Christian Must Be a Theologian,” Jared C. Wilson often contends that we
misunderstand theology. When one concludes that every Christian must be a theologian,
the premise is not that every Christian must be an academic or scholar. Instead,
laypeople are not mandated to leave the duty of doctrine up to the pastors and professors
alone.
5 Fred G. Zaspel, “For Warfield Every Christian is a Theologian,” January 15, 2022,
https://www.crossway.org/articles/for-warfield-every-christian-is-a-theologian/.
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Theology comes from the Greek words Theos (God) and Logos (Word). Simply put, this
means the knowledge of the study of God.6 Therefore, the longer we follow Him, the
more deeply we know Him.
New models are needed to successfully deploy the gospel in a post-Christian
culture. Therefore, the project director seeks not to research old, failed models of
discipleship but to develop a new model that will grow and change as it is deployed and
shaped throughout the project and future deployments of discipleship. The rest of chapter
six focuses on the research questions and answers discovered throughout the apologetic
process.
Research Questions and Answers
The research aims to understand better where the church is in disciplining
believers and creating a better process for discipling in a post-Christian culture. There are
three different yet interrelated questions that the project seeks to answer:
How Do We Deploy Doctrines for Everyday Life?
How Do We Engage Culture for Everyday Life?
How Do We Practice Practical Apologetics for Everyday Life?
Next, we will look at how effectively the project brings clarity to the project
questions.
6 Jared C. Wilson, “Every Christian Must Be a Theologian,” July 24, 2018,
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/every-christian-must-theologian/.
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How Well Was the Project Prepared?
Research is only as successful as its planning process. The preparation for the
project began long before the project director started the research for the project. It
began with a hypothesis based on the project director's observations regarding the lack
of fully formed disciples of Christ. The hypothesis formed says that “discipleship is not
merely a process; it is a life-long relationship that encompasses all of life.” Answering
the question of how well the project was prepared is a somewhat tricky question. To
measure the success or shortcomings of a project, one must track the success of the
project. Considering, however, the project post-survey and the engagement of
participants during the project, one would conclude that the project was above average
in its preparation. Below is a breakdown of the different areas of preparation in order of
formation:
Initial Church leader interviews.
Area Wide Pastor Survey.
Recruitment of participants for the project.
Deployment of the pre-project survey.
Preparation of workbooks and slide presentations.
Training for table-talk talk leaders.
Data gathering from post-project surveys.
The leader interviews yielded more significant results than the pastor surveys.
Both were adequately prepared; however, the in-person interviews yielded more essential
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results, allowing the project director to cross-direct the participants and elicit a more
substantial response. For the pastor surveys to yield tremendous success, they needed an
in-person interview rather than objective multiple-choice questions.
Initially, the project director saw recruiting participants as the easiest part of the
project planning. Originally, commitment to participate in the project tied itself to the
pre-project survey; however, upon evaluation, providing a separate commitment
document for the participant to sign before sending out the pre-survey proves itself more
practical. Some did the pre-project survey but did not follow through on participating in
the project itself. Therefore, the project director anticipated more participants than those
who followed through. Another difficulty with recruiting presented itself due to the
uncertainty as to the actual date of the project launch. The uncertainty rested partly on
waiting for the final approval and trying to discern the best time for people's schedules;
this led to a shorter time frame regarding the starting date and the request for
participation.
The preparation of the workbooks and slide show went smoothly. One of the
critiques in the table talk leaders post-survey spoke to the workbooks and their
dissemination of the information. The statement alluded to the idea that the level of
scholarship within the workbooks might find itself over the heads of some of the average
participants. Upon further reflection, the project director concedes that the information
within the workbooks needs some condensing to make it more explicative and concise.
The workbooks also need some revision in words that appear over the head of the
audience. Further revisions of the study, however, adding another section on growing
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religious groups within America is prudent. The project director received responses in
the critiques regarding the desire to unpack other religious beliefs, such as Mormonism,
agnosticism, and atheism. While such religious groups are not considered World-
Religions, they are relevant to creating better-formed apologists. This confirmed the
project director's hypothesis that discipleship needs to be more comprehensive. Finally,
the difficulty in making a workbook for the project rests in the fact that the project is
intended to take place over a three to six-month period. The project, however, was
condensed into three-weekend sessions for time's sake. The project director anticipates
the need to rework the subjects and their information in a more accessible format for the
average layperson to ensure the maximum comprehension of participants.
How Well Was the Project Implemented?
The effectiveness of the implementation process cannot be entirely ascertained
until later in the discipleship process. Discipleship is a long-term process. Active
engagement, however, occurred in the learning process for those who participated,
whether in person or online. The nature of the project is intended for discipleship with a
one-on-one focus; however, the project's focus seemed to morph more into an
information-gathering format for the future of the discipleship process.
Those who participated remotely seemed to put more thought and effort into the
post-project surveys. Those, however, who attended in person seemed to have better
engagement during the talk-back sessions following the teaching. For the sake of
numbers, the project director opened the project to live streaming; however, for
maximum effectiveness, the project is designed for personal interactions. Such
interaction
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is not as effective long-distance. The project director's daughter, who participated in the
project, shared some struggles with the talk-back questions regarding clarification when
interpreting the questions.
Changes Brought to the Ministry
The project director sees slow but steady progress when considering the change
necessary for effective long-term discipleship. One participant, the Journey Church’s
outreach and hospitality coordinator, recently identified a potential disciple. The
connection occurred following TJC’s recent marriage retreat, where the person she
identified conveyed a hunger for the Word. In the past, the participant passed such a
request off to someone else in the church. This time, however, the participant took it
upon herself to begin the intentional discipleship process. This confirms the hypothesis
of the need for a new kind of apologist. The project director also witnessed another
participant seeking out people to disciple at TJC.
Participants also shared frustration about members of the church who lack
spiritual maturity. Such a conclusion backs up the disappointment at this project's heart.
Finding a shared frustration between the participants and the project director is
refreshing. Frustration, however, is only productive if it leads to action and change. Such
frustrations echo Paul’s frustration with the Church at Galatia, and in Corinth (1
Corinthians 3:1-9), Paul declares, “I could not speak to you as mature Christians because
you were not. You were babies in Christ.” The project director concludes that the
ongoing assessment process will continually undergo assessments and evaluation until
more extensive data exists on its long-term effectiveness and failures.
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Another significant level of change in bringing awareness to those who
participated in the project is how the participants see people and the world around them.
In conversations with one of the participants, who is the newest convert among the
participants, he asked what it means to be a missionary. While he understands that we are
all missionaries, his more significant concern is the lack of enthusiasm for the mission
and the lack of concern for the church's spiritual growth. Interestingly, the younger
believers in the project appeared to have a greater awareness and concern for spiritual
growth following the project than the seasoned believers. Now, we will consider some
recommended revisions to the project.
Recommended Revisions
It was surprising to learn from the post-survey in Chapter One that only one
participant felt the most prepared to use the doctrine of original sin in apologetics. The
survey allowed participants to pick up to three areas for apologetic defense. Even though
the project presented a large scriptural base, the project director recommends a more
significant focus on using scripture to defend one's doctrinal position. Specifically,
scripture regarding the fall and original sin. This also echoes the suggestion of one of our
table-talk leaders when asked what precept or idea they would like to see added or
expanded upon.
After reviewing the post-project surveys, the project director noticed that the book
on world religions needs an added section on other faiths in a post-Christian society. The
project director recommends a separate section to include people who rely solely on their
science or knowledge as their belief system. This would consist of agnostics, atheists,
and
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religious nones (people without religious affiliation), who are those in secular and post-
Christian culture today. The original study sought to tackle the most significant world
religions in society today; however, participants appeared more concerned about
responding to the religiously unaffiliated or the intellectual giant full of knowledge yet
lacking true wisdom that comes from God.
Finally, some logistics for dispensing the project need further attention. The
project director suggests placing the section on world religions with the added
philosophical views early in book two instead of at the end of book three. Book two
deals with engaging culture in everyday life, including creating a biblical worldview,
which requires people to engage with the world and their religious beliefs. Combining
sharing Jesus in the marketplace of ideas with the section on other world religions and
philosophical views helps the learner tie the knowledge of different religious views with
one’s apologetic method. Therefore, it allows the learner to bolster their confidence in
understanding other beliefs and helps them choose the best method to bring the gospel
into the marketplace of ideas. The project director discovered more feedback from the in-
person talk-back sessions and surveys. Even with the prospect of taking more time to
disseminate the project, the potential for more significant input in the learning process
outweighs the time invested. Next, during the discovery phase, the project director
discovered several prospects for future study.
Prospects for Future Study
There is room for further study on developing and growing disciples who are
apologists for a post-Christian culture. Because culture is constantly changing, specific
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challenges to discipleship today will change and grow with future generations. One
aspect of creating new kinds of apologists that bears some follow-up research involves
living out one’s worldview. The project did an excellent job of assisting the participants
in creating a worldview. The deficiency, however, lies in the follow-through process. The
post-survey revealed that while the project did an adequate job of helping participants
formulate worldviews, it found itself lacking in assisting participants to discern how to
live out a worldview.
The religious nones, defined as the nothing in particular group, are America's
fastest-growing religious groups. Most nones describe their religion as “nothing in
particular.” Twenty-eight percent of Americans are now religiously unaffiliated. Most
nones believe in God; however, very few go to church; nones indicate that religion does
some harm, yet many think it does some good; nones reject the idea that science can
explain everything, but they express more positive views of science than religiously
affiliated groups. The project director suggests that if our goal is to create better-formed
apologists for a post-Christian culture, the nones should be included in the research
process. It is not easy to discern whether these religious groups are believers. While this
could also be said of many who line the pews of our mainline denominations, it bears
greater scrutiny to fully prepare the new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture.
Conclusion
The growing, biblically illiterate culture today has no idea how far down the hole
of spiritual blindness it has fallen. The project began by identifying the problem of poorly
formed disciples of Christ in a post-Christian culture, which is not a revelation that
needs
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discovery. The issue that needs a solution is how the church today changes its course and
develops a new kind of apologist who is a fully formed, transformed, and conformed
disciple of Christ.
First, Jesús’s desire for the Church did not have a plan “B.” Jesús’s passion for
the church required His plan “A,” which is Himself. Learning to be a disciple of Christ is
a long-term project that requires a lifetime of transformation. The project confirms the
hypothesis that fewer Christians today engage in intentional long-term discipling
relationships. Apologetics is more than having a creative angle or well-formed argument
as proof for the existence of God and His Son. Discipleship is more than going through a
three or four-week study on what it looks like to be a Christian. The project's research
uncovered what the project director hypothesized regarding the growing deficiency in
mature, well-formed followers of Christ. True disciples of Christ should continue to form
and grow as apologists and disciples until Christ returns, as Paul points out in Philippians
1:6. The project director is not the same pastor as he was twelve years ago when he
followed the call to plant TJC. And the congregation should be thankful for that fact. The
problem uncovered during the project confirmed that the church's state today reflects a
growing number of malnourished, poorly formed disciples.
Second, the biblical discovery phase of the project uncovered what it means to
follow the call to be a disciple of Christ. Looking down from the Mt. of Olives, where
Jesus gave the Great Commission, the command was to take the gospel to the world. The
eschatological concept of the call to the nations is not just about knowing what a person
is saved from, as some discipleship models focus on; it is knowing what you are saved
to,
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which is living as a lifelong disciple of Christ. Paul brings the message of what people
are being called to as he unpacks the God of the universe in front of the Stoic and
Epicurean philosophers in Athens. Paul brings to the discussion the reality that all of life
is wrapped up in the one with whom we live, move, breathe, and find our being. So, for
the disciple of Christ, all of life is wrapped up in living out our relationship with Christ.
Finally, Peter brings one back to the disciple's responsibility in 1 Peter 3:15. Peter
contends that the disciple of Christ is always responsible for being prepared to give an
apologia or defense for the hope we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. The conclusion of the
recent research shows that the church is packed in effectively training believers to fulfill
the command to give a defense.
Thirdly, in the research and discovery phase, the discovery of three pressing
issues hindered the growth of mature disciples in a post-Christian culture: (1) the
challenge of expressive individualism, (2) the challenge of morality, and (3) the
challenge of fragmentation. The project uncovered that truth is not something one finds
or discovers but a concept one creates or constructs. Therefore, truth becomes a product
of one’s own making. Today's moral thoughts of those within the church community take
on the false narrative that there are no longer moral absolutes. People choose to live in
shades of gray. Such a slide for the church goes back to what John Owens calls the lack
of “the mortification of sin” in one's life. The lack of mortification of sin in our church
culture is highlighted in the post-survey when none of the participants felt prepared to
speak on original sin in its apologetic defense. Today, the church's fragmentation is a
reality due to lacking a genuine, authentic biblical community mindset.
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Fewer believers today engage in the church's community, while more people come into
the church today seeking to assert autonomy apart from the body of Christ. Such a
downslide leads to views of physical and ideological autonomy, which in turn leads to
biblical autonomy, picking and choosing the commands one wants to obey.
Finally, developing a process for creating a new kind of apologist for a post-
Christian culture is undoubtedly an arduous process. When the project director began
embarking on such a journey for clarity and answers, the process generated as many
questions as answers. The process, however, brings the project director to a place of
encouragement and further motivation to continue the journey to creating mature
followers of Christ. Paul declared in Colossians 1:28 that his goal in ministry and life is
“that we may present everyone as mature followers of Christ,” to that end, may this be
said of everyone who calls themselves a follower of “the way” to the glory of God alone.
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APPENDIX 1
EVALUATIONS AND SURVEYS
Participant Pre-Survey
The research you will participate in assesses the past and present discipleship practices at
The Journey Church. The Journey Church is conducting the following analysis to
enhance and formulate a cohesive discipleship model for The Journey Church. Any
information you provide will be held strictly confidential, and your name will not be
reported or identified with your responses. Participation in this study is voluntary, and
you can withdraw anytime. Completing the discipleship survey acknowledges your
enrolment in the project and gives informed consent for your answer to be used in the
following research.
Participants will benefit from the project in the following ways.
1). Participants will be better prepared to incorporate core doctrines into everyday life.
2). Participants will be better prepared to engage in a post-Christian culture with a
Biblical worldview.
3). Participants will be better prepared to answer complex questions of faith when
asked.
4). Participants will be better prepared to engage post-Christians with everyday
missions.
Again, thank you for your willingness to participate. I am deeply honored to have you
join me on this journey, and I pray that by the end of the project, you will find yourself
better formed, informed, and transformed as a follower of Christ.
What is Your Age?
o 18-24
o 25-34
o 35-44
o 45-54
oOver 55
How Long have you been attending your Current Church?
oLess than one year,
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4
3
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o1-2 years.
o3-4 years.
o5-10 years.
oOver 10 years.
Have you ever personally and intentionally been discipled by someone?
(Personal discipleship is defined as a person who regularly reaches out to you to model and
teach the example of Christ so that you might grow to do the same with others.)
oYes
oNo
Outside of your children, are you intentionally and regularly discipling an individual or
handful of people in the hopes that they will grow as gospel-centered worshipers in the
community who serve and multiply their lives in others?
oYes
oNo
Are you consistently or regularly discipling your children in hopes that they might become
or grow as gospel-centered worshipers in the community who serve and multiply their
lives in others?
oYes
oNo
oI do not have children.
How many meaningful Biblical conversations have you had with someone outside your
family or Church network in the past month?
o1
o2
o3
o4 or more
On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and five being the highest, how prepared do
you feel to give a reasonable defense for your hope in Christ Jesus
5
4
3
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4
3
2
1
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3
2
1
5
4
3
2
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5
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How prepared do you feel to give a coherent Biblical worldview on a scale of 1-5, with
one being the lowest and five being the highest?
On a scale of 0 to 5, with zero being the lowest and five being the highest, how equipped
do you feel to disciple another person in the faith?
On a scale of 0-5, with zero being the lowest and five being the highest, how involved
would you like to be in arranging personal discipleship relationships?
On a scale of 0-5, how confident do you feel about teaching someone the core
doctrines of faith as found in Scripture? With zero needing to be more confident and
five being very confident.
On a scale of 0-5, with zero being the lowest and five being the highest, how confident
do you feel in presenting an argument from a Biblical perspective on complex issues
people may have for not believing in the God of the Bible? (For example: Why would a
loving God allow good things to happen to bad people? How can I trust that the Bible is
true? How do I know that the God of the Bible is the one true God?
On a scale of 0-5, how do you feel that your lack of knowledge and understanding about
how the Bible relates to science and history impedes your ability to have Biblical
conversations with non-Christians? Zero is that it has very little to do with your ability,
and five is that it has an extreme effect on your ability. With non-Christians?
5
4
3
2
1
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On a scale of 0-5, with zero being the lowest and five being the highest, how do you
feel that your inability to respond to the atheist or agnostic impedes your ability to
move people toward Christ?
How often have you had meaningful Biblical conversations with your family in the past
month? (Meaningful Biblical Conversation is anything that draws someone's attention
away from themselves and towards the Godhead, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.)
1
2
3
Four or more
If you were honest, how intentional are you as a representative of Christ about how you
order your weekly, monthly, and yearly life? With zero being very little intentionality
and five being great intentionality. (Daily routines include traveling, working, and eating
meals. Weekly habits include grocery shopping, exercising, and watching media.
Monthly habits include getting a haircut, going to the movies, gardening, etc).
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Participant post-survey
Thank you for taking the time to participate in my doctoral project. While we know that
the discipleship process will only be complete once Christ returns (Philippians 1:6), I
pray that with the information gathered through the following project, we can move the
Church closer to looking like the mature and spotless bride that Christ desires all
believers to embrace.
The following exit survey aims to gauge the project's effectiveness in creating new kinds
of apologists. The data collected will be invaluable in helping to refine and define the
process.
1. On a scale of 1-5, how prepared do you feel after completing the project to share
the core doctrines of the faith? One needs to prepare more, and five is very ready.
2. Which of the following doctrines of the faith do you feel the most prepared to
give a reasonable defense?
(You can choose as many three doctrines or as little as 1.)
Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture
Doctrine of God
Doctrine of Holiness
Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God
Doctrine of Creation
Doctrine of Original Sin
Doctrine of Justification
Doctrine of Sanctification
3. How prepared do you feel to give a defense or apologetic for the hope you have in
Christ Jesus? Zero needs to prepare more, and five are very ready.
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4. After attending the project, how prepared do you feel to bring Jesus into the
marketplace of ideas? 1 is not prepared at all, and 5 is very ready.
5. After finishing the project, which areas of engaging everyday life do you feel
most prepared for?
(You can choose as many as three areas or as little as 1)
The ability to give a defense by asking the right questions.
The ability to make disciples who observe all His commands.
The ability to discern the difference between true and false discipleship.
The ability to bring Jesus into the marketplace of ideas.
The ability to understand what place philosophy plays in our apologetics.
The ability to bring our reason, conscience, and imagination to a post-Christian
culture.
The ability to live at the margins of our culture and society.
The ability to communicate a Biblical worldview.
The ability to create a mature Christian mind for a post-Christian culture.
6. Compared to when you began the project, how prepared do you feel to apply the
principles you have learned daily? One is not at all, and five are very ready.
7. How prepared do you feel from the first day of the project until now to present an
argument from a Biblical perspective on people’s complex issues for not
believing in the God of the Bible? With one being not at all and five needing to be
more prepared.
8. After completing the following training, do you feel more prepared, about the
same, or less prepared to share with the agnostic or atheist about Jesus Christ?
More Prepared
About the Same
Less Prepared
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5
4
3
2
1
5
4
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9. Compared to the beginning of the project until now, how motivated are you to
take an active part in making disciples? With zero not being motivated at all and
five being very motivated.
Pastor’s Survey
Most Significant Church Problems Survey
First, thank you for participating in our pastor’s survey. The following survey is
part of a doctoral dissertation project directed by Mark Hoover to create a process for
developing a new kind of apologist for a post-Christian culture. The research you are
about to take part in seeks to gauge the current spiritual temperature of the church. Any
information you provide will be held strictly confidential, and your name will not be
reported or identified with your responses. The prayer is that the subsequent research will
find itself helpful in equipping better-formed, informed, and transformed followers of
Christ. The results of the following survey will be made available upon your request.
Please rate the following on a scale of 1-5, reflecting your most significant concerns
about the Church, with 1 representing no concern and 5 expressing great concern.
We are reaching a younger audience.
Declining or inconsistent outreach and evangelism.
Stagnating spiritual growth.
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Declining church attendance.
Declining or unpredictable giving patterns.
Biblical Literacy.
Lack of leadership training and development.
They are not reflecting the demographic of the community.
Divisions within the church.
Lack of consistent, intentional discipleship.
Addressing Scandal in the Church/Church Abuse.
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Poorly Formed Disciples Survey
With 1 representing no factor and 5 expressing a significant factor, which of the
following factors are the most critical barriers to well-formed disciples of Christ?
They watered down gospel teaching.
Culture’s Shift to a Secular Age.
Poor Discipleship Models.
Addressing Complex Social Issues with Biblical Integrity.
Prosperity Gospel Teaching.
Political Polarization in our Country.
5
4
3
2
1
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Faulty View of the Purpose of the Church.
It is changing attitudes towards evangelism.
Addressing scandal in the Church/Church abuse.
Lack of Intergenerational Relationships within the Church.
Religious Liberty/Freedom. (Lack of Mortifying Sin)
(Those who use their freedom as an excuse to sin. Reference Romans 6: "Are we to
continue to sin the Grace may abound.")
The Church’s Role in Marriage and Human Sexuality.
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Table Talk Leaders’ Weekly Evaluation
1. How many participants were present ?
2. On a scale of 1-10, one being the least effective and ten being the most effective.
How well did your group grasp the core concepts from today’s teaching session?
12345678910
3. How many within your group actively participated in the group discussion?
4. When pairing up during your talk-back time, how many within your group could
explain the core teaching principle from the previous week’s session?
.
5. How many within your group could quote the previous week’s memory verse?
.
6. How much direction did you have to give your group collaborating to incorporate
the teaching principle in their everyday life?
None Little Somewhat Alot
7. On a scale of 1-10, one being the least and ten being the greatest. How effective
and practical was the group’s weekly collaborative application?
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Participant Talk-Back Survey Book 1 “Doctrines for Everyday Life
1. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least and five being the greatest, how
effective do you feel Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life will be in helping
teach core doctrines to new disciples of Christ?
2. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least effective and five being the most
effective, how effective do you think Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life is at
effectively teaching complex Biblical principles for everyday life?
3. What is one new precept or idea that you learned from this session that will be
useful to deploy in your everyday life? i.e., (new term, new idea, a new method,
etc.)
4. What precept or idea from Deploying Doctrines for Everyday Life do you need
help grasping and understanding the most?
5. On a scale of 1-5, one not at all and five very much, how clearly and effectively
does the workbook material facilitate Core Biblical Principles for Everyday Life?
Participant Talk Back Survey Book 2 “Engaging Culture in Everyday Life.”
1. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least and five being the greatest, how
effective do you feel Engaging Culture in everyday life was in helping prepare
you to apply a Biblical worldview in the culture where you live?
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
5
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1
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2. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least effective and five being the most
effective, how effective do you think "Engaging Culture in Everyday Life" is at
effectively teaching the challenges of having a Biblical worldview forever day
life?
3. What is one new precept idea or concept that you learned from this session that
will be useful to deploy in your everyday life? i.e., (new term, new idea, a new
method, etc.)
4. What precept or idea from the previous teaching session do you need help
grasping and understanding the most?
5. On a scale of 1-5, one being not at all and five being very much, how clear and
compelling do you feel the workbook material facilitates the development of a
Biblical worldview for Everyday life?
Participant Talk Back Survey Book 2 “Practical Apologetics for Everyday Life.”
1. On a scale of 1 to 5, with one being the least and five being the greatest, how
effective was the following study at preparing you to engage post-Christian
culture with everyday apologetics?
2. On a scale of 1-5, with one being the least effective and five being the most
effective, how effective do you think “Engaging Culture with Everyday
Apologetics” is at helping prepare you for the challenges of everyday
apologetics?
3. What is one new precept idea or concept that you learned from this session that
will be useful to deploy in your everyday life? i.e., (new term, new idea, a new
method, etc.)
4. What precept or idea from the previous teaching session do you need help
grasping and understanding the most?
5
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2
1
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5. On a scale of 1-5, one not at all and five very much, how clear and compelling do
you feel the following material is in facilitating and developing the skills
necessary for deploying effective apologetics in a post-Christian culture?
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APPENDIX 2
STUDENT GUIDES AND TEACHING OUTLINES
Book 1 Doctrines for Everyday Life
Session 1 The Sufficiency of Scripture
Goal 1 is to understand the doctrine of inerrancy and sufficiency in Scripture.
A. Gaining higher levels of Biblical literacy and clear theological understanding.
Many of us have authority we listen to in our lives that has more power than
scripture.
B. Our doctrinal foundation is Scripture’s existence, inspiration, authority, and
trustworthiness.
Goal 2 is to understand what it looks like to live, considering the inerrancy and
authority of the Bible in everyday life.
A. Commitment to ensuring that you have understood and adequately interpreted
scripture as a lifelong student of the Word. (Guarding against adding worldly
philosophies to Christian doctrine)
B. The primary purpose and point for which we read the Word of God.
Session 2 The Doctrine of God.
Goal 1 is to understand the big picture of the doctrine of God.
A. The danger of having too small a view of God
B. Glory is not a part of God; it is God.
Goal 2 is to understand what it looks like to live out the doctrine of God in
everyday life.
A. There is no place where the existence of God does not shape how you
live your life.
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B. How to respond to four groups of people regarding God’s existence.
1) People who deny God’s existence.
2) People respond to God’s existence by saying they believe
in the concept of God but have little desire to know him.
3) People who believe in the God of the Bible and have come to
God in confession, surrender, and worship.
4) People whose belief and relationship with God motivates
directly and permeates our everyday life.
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Session 1 The Doctrine of the Inerrancy and Sufficiency of Scripture
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[a] may be
complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
The doctrine of Scripture's authority and inerrancy is rooted in the doctrine of God; as God is
True and Trustworthy, so is his Word recorded in the original autographs of Scriptures.
“The trustworthiness of the Scriptures lies at the foundation of trust in the Christian system
of doctrine and is therefore fundamental to the Christian hope and life.” These words
from Benjamin B. Warfield highlight how important the doctrine of inerrancy is for the
church. Abandon it, and the entire Christian system of doctrine now rests on a shaky
foundation.
The Canonization of Scripture
Recognition by the Churches: The Early Church viewed these books as the very
voice of the Lord. Of course, there will be pockets of disagreement and
dissension, but we can expect predominate or general agreement throughout the
church's history –precisely what we find.
Apostolic Origin: The link to the apostles and back to Jesus. (those
commissioned to speak for Christ)
Divine Qualities: Divine qualities or indicators are consistent with all scripture.
(OT and NT one story) If God genuinely stands behind these books, then we
would expect these books to share God’s qualities.
The Necessity of Gaining Higher Levels of Biblical Literacy
The authority of Scripture has fallen on hard times in the post-Christian culture we live in
today. Unfortunately, many believers have external sources they listen to today that have
more power than Scripture.
D.A. Carson contends that the slide from the authority of Scripture leads to an appeal
to selective evidence. The health, wealth, and prosperity gospel are among the
most egregious offenders.1 According to Carson, such offenders quickly
1 D.A. Carson, “Subtle Ways to Abandon the Authority of Scripture in Our Lives,” Themelios: An
International Journal for Students of Theological (2017), 42, Issue 4,
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/subtle-ways-to-abandon-the-authority-of-
scripture-in-our-lives/.
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identify other, more subtle offenders who refuse to discuss disputed matters to
sidestep controversy within the church. Such topics include poverty, racism,
homosexuality, cohabitation, and gender roles, to mention a few.
What is the difference between Inerrancy and Inspiration of Scripture?
God is the author of Inspiration.
The God who has breathed out His Word has done so truthfully; what else would we
expect from the triune God who is truth Himself (John 1:18; 8:40; 14:6; 17:3, 17; 18:37:
1 John 4:6).
Our Doctrine of Scripture
should be grounded in our Doctrine of God.
If God is the author of Scripture, then we should never divorce the divine author's
character from the character of His Word.
Scripture has many human
authors, but ultimately, it originates from one divine
author.
“But wait, don’t human hands write scripture, and we all know human hands are
flawed?”
The Spirit of God Inspires human authors to say what God says.
Indeed, this is not beyond God’s omnipotent ability to accomplish. If we believe that the
Son of God can become incarnate and take on human flesh yet be without sin to share a
saving word with sinful humanity (John 1:1, 14), then carrying along Biblical authors to
speak the truth should be a small thing in comparison.
The Doctrinal Foundation of Scriptures Existence, Inspiration, Authority, and
Trustworthiness.
First, we must qualify what inerrancy does not mean. When all facts are known, it must
be concluded that the scriptures in their original autographs and correctly interpreted will
be shown to be entirely true in everything that they affirm.
Inerrancy applies to the Original
Autographs .
Although the exact count is always changing, currently we possess more than
5,500 manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek, 10,000 in Latin, and
9,300 in Syriac, Slavic, Ethiopic, Coptic, Nubian, and Arminian. No other
document of antiquity even comes close. Plato, we have 7 copies; Caeser, we
have 10 copies. Aristotle, we have 49 copies that were written 1,400 years
after the fact. We have copies of the NT that date less than 100 years from
the time of Jesus Christ.
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Sometimes, critics see mistakes in copies and assume the Bible is full of errors. When we
say that scripture is inerrant, we have in mind that God breathed out the original text
through the human authors (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). (It should be noted that we have
copies today that are very accurate. This is why translations of scripture do matter.)
Kevin Vanhoozer concludes:
“To say that Scripture is Inerrant is to confess the faith that the authors speak the truth in all
things they affirm. To say that it is “wholly” true means we should not limit inerrancy to
the scriptures' main doctrinal message. We never see the Biblical authors place such
limitations on their writings. Instead, they believe God speaks truth through them in
whatever they affirm. So, inerrancy applies to all areas, including its ethical instructions
for everyday living.”
Scriptures Inerrancy and Authority
Affirming the inerrancy of scripture today can take time and effort. Some assert the
scriptures' inspiration but reject its inerrancy.
On further investigation, however, this position denies that Scripture is valid in all its
assertions. They would say yes, it is true in its gospel message, but beyond that, it has
errors in its specifics. It is puzzling that those holding this view still claim Sola Scriptura
(Scripture Alone) as if Scripture is still the final authority.
Full Inerrancy view says: All Scripture is our inerrant
Truth .
The Limited Inerrancy view says our inerrant authority is only when scripture
addresses a matter of Doctrine.
Note: This was how Martin Luther protested Rome and took his stand on the authority of
Scripture. Luther boldly claimed that while popes and counsels were in error, Scripture
would never be in error.
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Terms to Know
Authority : The Bible’s power originates from God, for which it “ought to be
believed and obeyed.”
Autographs : The original texts of the biblical books as they find themselves
passed down from the hands of the human authors
Canon: The authoritative list of inspired biblical books. Shortly after Jesus’s
death, the New Testament canon was affirmed by evaluating the books’
Apostolicity, reception, and teachings. Still, ultimately, the canon is self-
authenticating, as the voice of Christ is heard in it (John 10:21).
Inerrancy: The position that the Bible affirms no falsehood of any sort; that
is, “it is without fault or error in all that it teaches” in matters of history,
science, and faith.
Infallibility : The position that the Bible cannot err or make mistakes and that
it “is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and
will not fail to accomplish its purpose.”
Inspiration : The process by which God worked through the human authors of
the Bible to communicate His revelation.
Organic inspiration : The process by which God guided the human authors of
Scripture, working in and through their styles and life experiences so that
what they produced was precisely what He wanted them to have.
Special revelation : The things God makes known about Himself apart from
nature and conscience (general revelation; cf. Rom. 1:19-21). These things,
having to do with Christ and the plan of salvation, are found only in the Bible.
Sufficiency : The Bible contains everything needed to know and believe about
salvation and what pleases God.2
Talk Back Questions
Scripture to Memorize: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Scriptures to be familiar with:
See Ps. 19:1–3; Prov. 22:19–21; Joshua 1:8; Isa. 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; 24:27, 44; John
16:13–14; Acts 15:15; Rom. 1:19–21; 2:14–15; 3:2; 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:10–12; Eph. 2:20;
2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:15–17; Heb. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:19–20; 1 John 2:20, 27; 1 John 5:9.
What does it look like for you to live, considering the inspiration, authority, and
sufficiency in scripture alone in our daily lives?
2 Kevin Gardner, “The Doctrine of Scripture Defining our Terms.” accessed January 9, 2023 ,
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/doctrine-scripture-defining-our-terms.
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I need the truth of the Word to understand and know how to respond.
(Fill in the blank) Explain your answer.
Why do you think much of our Christian culture needs biblical literacy and clear
theological understanding today?
How does scripture help guard us against self-glory?
What difference would your life as a Christian make if you knew scripture better?
Group
Collaborative
Application
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the Doctrine of the Sufficiency
of scripture to incorporate into your daily lives this week. (At the next meeting, your
group will gauge the effectiveness of your action step.)
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Session 2 The Doctrine of God
Goal 1 is to understand the big picture of the doctrine of God.
C. The danger of having too small a view of God
D. Glory is not a part of God; it is God.
Goal 2 is to understand what it looks like to live out the doctrine of God in
everyday life.
C. There is no place where the existence of God does not shape how
you live your life.
D. How to respond to four groups of people regarding God’s existence.
1) People who deny God’s existence.
2) People respond to God’s existence by saying they believe
in the concept of God but have little desire to know him.
3) People who believe in the God of the Bible and have come to
God in confession, surrender, and worship.
4) People whose belief and relationship with God motivates
directly and permeates our everyday life.
According to Pew Research, nine out of ten Americans believe in a higher
power; however, only a slim majority believe in God as described in the
Bible. The study contends that many Americans who believe in God with
absolute certainty have declined in recent years. Therefore, the new apologist
must ask: When someone says they do not believe in God, who or what are
they rejecting? Are they rejecting belief in any higher power or spiritual force
in the universe, or are they rejecting only a traditional idea of God, perhaps
viewing a fanciful picture of God as a bearded man in the sky?
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Session 2 The Doctrine of God
Our doctrine of God is drawn from Genesis through Revelation, from the Old Testament as
much as from the New Testament.
The Monotheistic God in which Christians put their faith is both Transcendent
(independent and removed from the material world) and immanent (intently
involved in the material world).
The Bible gives two facts regarding the knowledge of God. First, it teaches that
God is incomprehensible, but at the same time, it declares that He is Knowable.
(Isaiah 55:8- 9, Rom. 11:33-34, John 17:3, John 1:12, Rom. 8:15-16)
Cultural Note: If one were to ask most people in Western culture today if they believed in
God, the answer would most likely be ‘yes;’ however, not everything is as it appears.
When Americans say they believe in God, what do they mean?
The Danger of Having to Small a View of God
The Doctrine of God forms the whole scope of our Christian
Theology.
God wants people to remember Him forever by the name of Yahweh or Lord.
The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4–5 is the most famous confession of faith in the Old
Testament: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” We have seen that
the Lord is a profoundly holy person who creates a covenant relationship with his
creatures. We learn this fundamental truth when God reveals himself to Moses as the
Lord.3 (Exodus 3:14-15, “I am, Who I am”)
Lordship asserts who is in Control.
Some have maintained that God intends to reveal his incomprehensibility: he is telling
Moses that no name in human language is appropriate for him. The name is “wrapped in
a final inappropriateness so that God escapes and transcends it.” But Scripture never
3 John M. Frame, The Doctrine of God, A Theology of Lordship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R
Publishing, 2002), 36.
Today's chasm within the evangelical Church finds itself in the difference
between knowing about God and knowing God. Knowing about God is
primarily a matter of assimilating information. Knowing God involves first-
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treats the name Yahweh as even slightly inappropriate as a designation of God. Instead,
God keeps reminding us of the appropriateness of his name. He is the Lord, and human
beings must reckon with that fact.
There is a difference between knowing about
God and knowing
God.
Because God can never be fully known, those seeking to know God should be deeply
humbled, realizing they will always have more to learn. Considering his
incomprehensible greatness, the appropriate response to God is a heart of wonder and
awe.
Why God is Incomprehensible
The main reasons for God’s incomprehensibility are:
1. God is Infinite, and His creatures are Finite.
2. The perfect unity of God’s attributes is far beyond the realm of human
experience.
3. Sin's effects on fallen humanity's minds also significantly inhibit our ability to
know God.
4. Another reason that God can never be fully known is that in God’s sovereign
wisdom, God has chosen not to reveal some things.
In heaven, God’s incomprehensibility will no doubt be lessened when the effects of
sin no longer ravage minds and when he will most likely share some of his secrets.
However, God will always be infinite, and humans will always be finite, so he will
always be beyond human ability to know exhaustively.
Implications of God’s Incomprehensibility
Because God can never be fully known, those who seek to know God should humbly
realize that they will always have more to Learn.
So, our appropriate response should always be one of Wonder and Awe, considering his
incomprehensible greatness.
With the increasing influence of Eastern Religions in the West, certain
postmodern views of truth, and religious pluralism all emphasize God’s
incomprehensibility so much that he is eventually seen as unknowable.
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The Knowability of God
The incomprehensibility of God could lead someone to Despair or Apathy in the quest
to know God.
Even though God cannot be exhaustively known, He can be known personally and
sufficiently.
God is personal, has definite characteristics, and has personally revealed himself so
that he can be known. The multiplication of grace and peace in our lives depends on
knowing God (2 Pet. 1:2–3), and this knowledge provides sufficient resources for life
and becoming the people God wants us to be.
Knowledge of God in Christ should be our greatest delight (Jer.
9:23–24 ; 1
Cor.
2:2; Gal.
6:14 ). It is the basis of attaining eternal life (John
17:3 ); it is at the heart of
life in the new covenant (Heb.
8:11–12 ); it was Paul’s primary goal (Phil.
3:10 ); and
it leads to godly love (1 John
4:7–8 ).
The implication of the Knowability of God
God’s personal and sufficient revelation of himself should foster solid conviction
among believers. We need not live in ambiguity and uncertainty about who God is
and what he demands of his creatures.
However, God can be known because of his gracious revelation and illumination.
God’s knowability should lead to eager, diligent, devoted study of God’s Word so
that we can understand him as he has revealed Himself and avoid any false view of
God that will dishonor him. We should never grow apathetic in seeking to know God
because we are equipped to understand and please him with our lives.4
4 Erik K. Thoennes, How God is Both Incomprehensible and Knowable at the Same Time, May 25,
2016, https://www.crossway.org/articles/how-god-is-both-incomprehensible-and-knowable-at-the-same-
time/.
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Attributes of God
God is Everlasting Psalm 90:2.
God is Good James 1:17.
God is Everywhere Psalm 139:7-12.
God is All Knowing 1 John 3:20.
God is Almighty Revelation 19:6.
God is Light 1 John 1:5.
God is Merciful Ephesians 2:4,5.
God is Righteous Romans 3:26
God is Truth John 14:6.
God is Judge Acts 17:31.
Talk Back Questions
Scripture to Memorize: Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Scriptures to be familiar with:
See Gen. 17:1; Ex. 3:14; 34:6, 7; Deut. 4:15–16; 6:4; 1 Kings 8:27; Neh. 9:23, 33; Job
22:2–3; Pss. 5:5–6; 90:2; 115:3; 119; 145:17; 148:13; Prov. 16:4; Isa. 6:3; 46:10; 48:12;
Jer. 10:10; 23:23; Ezek. 11:5; Dan. 4:25, 34–35; Nah. 1:2–3; Mal. 3:6; Matt. 28:19; John
1:14, 18; 4:24; 5:26; 14:11; 15:26; Acts 15:17–18; Rom. 11:34–36; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6; 2 Cor.
13:14; Gal. 4:6; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 4:13; 11:6; 1 John 5:7; Rev. 5:12–14.
How are the attributes of God different from man’s characteristics?
Respond to the following statement. Few believers suffer from a God who is too
big, but many suffer from one who is sadly too small. How have you found this
to be true or not?
How does the existence of God press on and shape your daily life?
What would you say to people who respond to the existence of God by saying
they believe in the concept of God but seem to have little desire to know him?
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What evidence exists for belief in a personal God?
Why is it essential for a believer to have a good grasp on the nature of God?
What happens if you have a faulty picture of the nature of God?
Group
Collaborative
Application
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the Doctrine of
Scripture that you will incorporate into your daily lives this week. (Next week,
your group will gauge the effectiveness of your action step)
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Session 3 The Doctrine of the Holiness and Sovereignty of God
Goal 1 is understanding what it means to live daily in constant recognition of God's
holiness.
A. What does it mean that God is Holy?
1. The holiness of God is at the center of how we make sense of life.
2. The holiness of God is the only way we can honestly know ourselves.
3. The holiness of God confronts us with the sinfulness of our sins.
4. The holiness of God is the goal for all of humanity.
5. The holiness of God is the purpose of all Biblical Theology.
Goal 2 is to understand the activity of the sovereignty of God.
A. Understanding why God decrees what He decrees? (Why are things the way they
are? Why did this happen? Why would God allow ? How could a good
God let happen?)
B. Understanding God’s providence. He does not simply decree what will happen and
passively sit by and watch; he actively participates in His world.
Goal 3 is to understand how the sovereignty of God works in everyday life.
A. Living out the sovereignty of God means understanding what he has called us to
do and what we should entrust to Him.
B. Living out the sovereignty of God means understanding that we can control very
few things.
C. Living out the sovereignty of God means understanding that surrender is our only
response to God’s sovereignty.
D. Living out the sovereignty of God means understanding that God is a mystery.
E. Living out the sovereignty of God means understanding that God is in control and
we are not.
Living out the sovereignty of God means understanding the reliability of His promises.
The holiness of God should frighten you, while at the same time, it should give
you rest. It should both blow your mind and form the basis of how you make
sense of everything.
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Session 3 The Doctrine of the Holiness and Sovereignty of God
DEFINITION: God's holiness refers to God's absolute moral purity and the absolute
moral distance between God and his human creatures.
God is not just a little bit holy. God is REALLY, REALLY holy.
The core idea behind the holiness of God is absolute moral purity.
God is Holy; therefore, He requires that we should be Holy:
Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7; Leviticus 20:26; Leviticus 21:8; Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 1:16;
1 Thessalonians 4:7
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say
to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am
the LORD your God.
26 You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated
you from th e peoples, that you should be mine.
8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall
be holy to yo u, for I, the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.
6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
These are the wo rds that you shall speak to the people of Israel.
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
OLD TESTAMENT HOLINESS
Circumcision was instituted to symbolize the seriousness of being cut off from
God by sin.
Theophanies (burning bush, plagues, lighting, and thunder at Mt. Saini) carried a
fearful and awe-inspiring experience with God.
Satan continues to weave into our culture today the same lie that he told Eve.
Essentially, he told her, "God is being unfair to you" (Genesis 3:4-5). However,
upon closer investigation, such a premise by Satan is impossible. God could
never act against His nature. He could never be unfair in His actions because his
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The annual right of the Day of Atonement, where only the High Priest could
enter the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat of
the ark of the covenant.
The only proper response in the face of divine holiness connected to all these diverse ways
God’s holiness became manifest was face-down and worship.
NEW TESTAMENT HOLINESS
Divine Holiness is attached to the Spirit of God.
The Holiness of God is the obstacle separating God from unholy people.
God’s Holiness took up residence
in the Human Heart.
From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, God's passion is to make the
Universe a Holy Dwelling place for Himself.
Emulating God’s Holiness is the difference between knowing what is right and doing
what is right.
Be careful when adapting to the behavior of other Christians rather than God.
The Cultural Lie
What does it look like to Live Every day in Recognition of God’s Holiness?
Holiness is central to understanding this life; it is the only way to know ourselves and the
depth of our sinfulness.
The Purpose of all biblical theology is the holiness of God and our pursuit of His
Holiness.
In his book Holiness R.C. Ryle puts the doctrine into perspective in the following statement:
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Paul reminds us that "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the
day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Perfection will be reached, yet it will not happen until
our life on this earth ends and our eternal existence begins.
Talk Back Questions
How should the holiness of God guide and govern our thinking on “God’s acceptance?”
How does the doctrine of the holiness of God need to be considered when we speak of
accountability?
How should the holiness of God govern our thinking about self-esteem?
How should the doctrine of the holiness of God caution us about how we get caught up in
the practice of the Church's growth movement? (Attempting to evangelize seekers
through a “seeker friendly” principle of doing church)
What does it look like for our natural response to God's holiness to be fearful reverence
and obedience as the outworking of such fear?
How does the holiness of God make the gospel a glorious necessity in our lives?
The Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God
A clear understanding of the sovereignty of God is necessary for all would-be apologists
in a post-Christian culture.
The believers find themselves exhorted to "perfect holiness in fear of God" – to
"go on to perfection" – to "be perfect," no careful reader of the Bible will ever
think of denying (2cor. 7:1; Heb 6:1; 2 Cor. 13:11). But I have yet to learn that
there is a single passage in scripture which teaches that a literal perfection – that
complete and entire freedom from sin, in thought, or word or deed – is attainable,
or has ever been attained, by any child of Adam in this world.
In his work, The Sovereignty of God, A.W. Pink declares that “the attitude of
modern teaching is that the creature has broken the boundaries set by his
Creator and that God is now practically a helpless spectator of the sin and
suffering caused by Adam. Pink contends that the sovereignty of the God of the
Bible is absolute, irresistible, and infinite.
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God’s sovereignty is His right
and power to do everything He proposes to do.
God is not subject to any rule of law outside of His own will and nature. This doctrine
has enormous implications for the apologist today because God is not obligated to
explain His business to anyone.
The sovereignty of God helps us understand God's providence.
He does not simply decree what will happen and passively sit by and watch; He
actively participates in His world.
God’s Sovereign Control
“Sometimes, we need to plunge our minds into the ocean of God’s sovereignty. We need
to feel the weight of it, like deep and heavy water pressing in against every pore the
deeper we go. A billion rivers of providence pour into this ocean. And God himself
gathers up all his countless deeds — from eternity to eternity — and pours them into the
currents of his infallible revelation. He speaks, explains, promises, and makes his
awesome, sovereign providence the place we feel most reverent, secure, and free.”5
-John Piper
God’s Sovereign Control means everything happens according to His Plan and
Intention.
God’s Sovereign Authority means all His plans Ought to be obeyed.
5 John Piper, “Plunge Your Mind into the Ocean of God’s Sovereignty,” December 1, 2015,
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/plunge-your-mind-into-the-ocean-of-gods-sovereignty.
Psalm 139: 7-10 ESV
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea,10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
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God’s Sovereign Presence means we encounter God’s control and authority in All our
Experiences, so we cannot escape His Justice or Love.
How do we know that God is Sovereign?
God’s Eternal Plan: You must have a plan before you build anything, whether a
skyscraper or a flower box. The Bible tells us that God had a plan for eternity
long before He made the universe. It all starts with the words, “In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). When Job began to
question God’s wisdom, God asked him: “Where were you when I was planning
out how creation and history were going to unfold.6
God’s work of Creation: Human beings depend on other people and existing
materials when undertaking any project. Sometimes, our plans fail, and we realize
we need help to complete our plans. But God is never frustrated or in need of
help. When God spoke, everything came into existence as he desired. God needed
nothing outside of Himself to create the vast universe in which we live.7
God’s control over History: The bible teaches that God controls every detail of
history. He sustains all that exists and orders its flow throughout history. Hebrews
1:3 tells us, "Jesus Christ is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint
of His nature, and He upholds the universe by His power.” But God not only
sustains the universe, but He is also intricately involved in ordering the events of
His creatures right down to the smallest detail. God’s sovereignty over history is
not just an abstract idea in scripture. It is grounded in believers' confidence in the
uncertainty of life.
6 Conrad Mbewe, Is God Really Sovereign?, 9Marks: Church Questions (Wheaton, IL: Crossway,
2023), 22–23.
7 Ibid.
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Matthew 10:29-30
English Standard Version
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[a] And not one of them will fall to the ground
apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
I believe … that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom
more or less than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the
steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand of
the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of [a caterpillar] over
the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the fall of sere
leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.8
-Charles Spurgeon
God’s Sovereignty Over Evil
I hope you see that the Bible is crystal clear: God is sovereign over all his creatures, and
everything that happens unfolds according to his plan, without exception. You may be
asking if this is your first time considering such thoughts. What about evil?
If God planned all things that come to pass, how is He not the author of Sin,
seeing that sin is among all things that occur in the human experience?9
These questions become even more significant when we consider human
suffering. How can a God of Love allow the suffering we see today?
This second question has prompted many people to assume there are only two options:
(1) if God is sovereign, then he could not possibly be holy and pleasing, or (2) if God is
holy and pleasing, then he must not be completely sovereign.10
If the bible is clear on anything, it’s clear on the Holiness and Goodness of God.
God is sovereign over all His creatures' actions, even their Sinful ones.
Amos 3:6
English Standard Version
6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are unafraid?
Does disaster come to a city unless the LORD has done it?
8 Mbewe, 22–23.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., 30.
For instance, God said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you
do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will
harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Ex. 4:21). God did the
same to Sihon, king of Heshbon, in Deuteronomy 2:30: “But Sihon the king of
Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his
spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as
he is this day.”
Genesis 45:4-8
4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came
near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And
now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me
here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in
the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be
neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a
remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you
who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all
his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
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The Bible teaches that God sometimes Hardens people’s hearts, resulting in people
doing moral evil.
At the same time, Scripture is clear that God cannot and does not commit sin. God hates
sin with absolute hatred. The apostle James makes this point when he states,
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot
be tempted with evil, and he tempts no one. But each person is tempted when
lured and enticed by their desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth
to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)
So, how can God be sovereign over sin without ever tempting anyone to sin? The maxim
that God has a hand in the action of sin but not in the sin of the action resolves this
apparent contradiction to some extent.
God’s control of history ensures that everything happens according to His Design, but
He does not plan evil Motives and Desires into the human heart to act. Look after the
story of Moses in Genesis 45:4-8:
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The Bible teaches that the things that are out of your Control are not out of Control
because of God’s ordained plan for all things and active rule over all things.
Table Talk Questions
Scripture to Memorize: 1 Peter 1:15-16; Romans 8:28
Scriptures to be familiar with:
See Ex. 15:11; Lev. 19:2; 1 Sam. 2:2; Job 6:10; Ps. 22:3; 71:22; 77:13; 89:35; 99:5; Isa.
5:16; 6:3; 40:25; 43:15; 57:15; Amos 4:2; Hab. 1:13; Luke 1:49; John 17:11; 1 Pet. 1:15–
16; Rev. 4:8; 15:4. See Gen. 8:22; Num. 23:19; Job 38:11; Ps. 135:6; Prov. 16:33; Isa.
46:10–11; 55:10–11; Dan. 3:27; 4:34–35; Hos. 1:7; Matt. 10:29–31; John 19:11; Acts
2:23; 4:27–28; 13:48; 15:18; 27:31, 44; Rom. 4:19–21; 9:11–18; Eph. 1:3–14; Heb. 1:3;
6:17; James 1:13, 1 John 1:5.
How should the holiness of God guide and govern our thinking on “God’s acceptance?”
How does the holiness of God make the gospel a glorious necessity in our lives?
Regarding taking personal responsibility for sin, what is the consequence of believing
Satan is a “ruler of this world” who causes all evil?
Describe the sovereignty of God as you understand it.
If sin frustrated God’s original plan, what does this say about Him?
When we say that God is sovereign, what do we affirm?
Describe the God of our current modern culture. How is this god different than the God
of the Bible?
How is God sovereign in exercising His mercy, grace, and love towards us? Give a
Biblical example. (Eph. 1:1-3)
What is a godly response to afflictions, losses, and disappointments, and why?11
Group
Collaborative
Application
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the Doctrine of the Holiness
and Sovereignty of God that you will incorporate into your daily lives this week. (Next
week, your group will gauge the effectiveness of your action step.)
11 Stanford E. Murrell, A Study Guide for: A.W. Pink’s Sovereignty of God (Warrendale, Penn:
Ichthus Publishing, 2020), 19,29,151.
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Session 4 The Doctrine of Creation
Goal 1 is to understand the Gospel focus in the Doctrine of Creation.
A. Creation is at the epicenter of everything we say we believe.
B. In creation, God designed everything He made with a purpose.
C. The doctrine of creation leads us to the grace of Jesus. Properly understood, it
leads us to the cross of Christ.
Goal 2 is to understand what life looks like, considering the truth of the doctrine of
creation in everyday life.
A. Creation compels us to live daily like we own nothing.
B. Creation compels us to live daily, knowing we are in a glory war.
C. Creation compels us to live daily, asking God’s purpose for things in our lives.
D. Creation compels us to live daily, knowing one is created to care for His world.
E. Creation compels us to live daily, knowing we are not created for independence
(We already have a master gardener)
Goal 3 is to understand man’s creation in the image of God.
A. To be made in the image of God is to be made a communal being.
B. To be made in the image of God is to be made a moral being.
C. To be made in the image of God is to be made a spiritual being.
D. To be made in the image of God is to be made a ruling being.
Goal 4 is to understand what it looks like to live in the image of God in everyday life.
A. Being created in the image of God changes how we view our identity in everyday
life.
B. Being created in the image of God changes how we view justice and mercy in
everyday life.
C. Being created in the image of God changes how we view our sexuality in
everyday life. (women’s role in the kingdom, issues of homosexuality and
transgender)
D. Being created in the image of God changes how we view love and respect in
everyday life.
Paul contends in Romans 1:19-20 that everything one needs to know about
God finds itself perceived through creation. A proper understanding of creation
leads us to grace, salvation, and the cross of Christ.
Francis Schaeffer similarly believed that the doctrine of creation was so
crucial for evangelism that, if he had an hour with a non-Christian, he would
spend the first fifty-five minutes on the topic of design and the last five
minutes on an actual presentation of the gospel.
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Understanding the Gospel Focus on the Doctrine of Creation
Creation is at the center of everything that humans say or do in the world.
Coming to faith in Christ is
impossible without an appropriate sense of God’s
creation.
Guy Richard, associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary,
said the following about creation:
“It is hard to imagine any topic within Christianity that has caused more debate or
disagreement than the doctrine of creation. According to Richard, the idea that
God created everything is the proverbial line in the sand that immediately divides
people into two camps—those who believe in creation and those who do not.”12
In his book In the Beginning, Herman Bavinck calls the doctrine of creation “the starting
point of true religion.” It thus divides the world into believers and unbelievers.
The question that causes people problems out of nothing (ex nihilo): who made
it? When? Why?
All these questions are a part of the discipleship process for creating a new kind of
apologist for a post-Christian culture.
Understanding what Life Looks like Considering the Doctrine of Creation 6
Points of the Doctrine of Creation in Everyday Life
12 Guy M. Richard, “The Doctrine of Creation,” http://www.thegospelcoalition.org.
The Qur’an rarely speaks in those terms. But the Bible as a whole insists that God is love,
because in the one God, miraculously, strangely, God is also other. In the oneness of God, there
is a complexity such that God loves the Son, the Sons love God, even in eternity past, and he
doesn’t need the universe.
And so, the origin of evil is not intrinsically a good principle and a bad
principle that are in competition. Even when the serpent is introduced, he is
introduced as the most subtle of the creatures that God made. And so, there
never is any hint of dualism or anything of that sort. There is one sovereign
God over the whole.
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1). God comes first: Before anything else was before there was a universe in the
beginning: God. He comes first.
Eventually, the bible fleshes out the notion of God in all ways to show
that in the past, the Father loved the Son, and the Son loved the Father. So, there
was a perfection of love in the past. This is very different from Islam, which is
slow to speak of God being a God of love because that would assume the
importance of another.
2). God speaks. He is a talking God: the first thing He does is speak the universe into
existence.
Throughout all scripture, God is a speaking God and dares to speak in words that
human beings can understand.
God’s act of creating is also different from ours in the way in which it was carried out.
God spoke his creation into being (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14-15, 20, 24, 26; Ps. 33:6; 148: 5 ).
He did not put it together by hand or with special tools. He spoke, and it was.
Once we understand this, we should not be surprised that he would later choose to reveal
himself, especially in the written word and in the person of his Son—the incarnate Word
of God (John 1:1-2; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2).
3). God made everything: This is against pantheism, which claims everything in
the universe is God (Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism).
4). There is one God who is good, and He made everything good.
That is, he stands behind good and evil in different ways. He stands behind good so that
good is always creditable to him, and evil is always creditable to secondary causalities,
like the serpent, even though it can’t sweep away God’s sovereignty.
When people say today, “Listen, I don’t mind if you have your religion, your
Jesus, and your Bible. But I am a spiritual person, too. I have my religion. I
have my approach to the divine and spiritual. Don’t keep cramming your
Jesus down my throat,” We cannot back off because God made us, we owe
Him, and one day we will give an account to Him.
185
When Paul finds himself evangelizing pagans in Acts 17 in the great city of
Athens, he stresses that God is so sovereign and other, the Creator of all things,
that he doesn’t need anything.
5). The doctrine of Grace is established in the doctrine of creation:
We are made by God and for God; therefore, we are all accountable to God.
6). There is an order to God’s creation:
God designed a beautiful framework of royal authority into His creation.
God built authority into creation from the beginning, and Satan’s
strategy—
his plan for maximizing the humiliation he wanted to inflict on God—was to
tear down those excellent and beautiful structures of authority.
Have you ever wondered why Satan tempted Eve instead of Adam? Paul mentions
this in 1 Timothy 2:12–14. Through the centuries, people have given a lot of
frankly stupid answers to that question: “Women are more gullible than men, so
Satan thought he had a better chance with her than with Adam.” “Women are
seductresses, so Satan thought he could get Eve to seduce Adam.” The correct
answer, though, is that Satan was never interested in just getting Adam alone to
commit a minor sin against God. He wanted to upend the entire structure of
authority that God had established in the world. He wanted the woman to
convince the man to rebel against God.13
13Greg Gilbert, “The Notion of Authority in God’s Created Order,” April 2, 2022,
https://www.crossway.org/articles/the-notion-of-authority-in-gods-created-order/.
When we ask how man bears God’s image, one historical approach is to cite
man’s evident superiority to lesser beings. Some have identified the image in
that man walks upright among the beasts. The problem is that God does not
possess a body, since “God is spirit” (John 4:24).
Paul Tripp helpfully exposes three lies that we live with, each of which he
says resolves itself in the doctrine of creation: the lies of autonomy, relativity,
and self-sufficiency.
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Understanding Being Created in the Image of God
To be made in God's image is to be communal, moral, spiritual, and ruling.
Central to the Bible's teaching are the words in Genesis 1:26: "Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness.” The Westminster Confession of Faith defines the imago dei
of God as:
God … created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls,
endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His image.14
The most magnificent part of being created in God's image is sharing one’s identity with
one’s maker.
Just as God exists in a loving community – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
humanity bears God’s image in the relationship of community and love.
Man bearing God’s image is the kingly rule into which mankind is called.
Man possesses a sense of conscience and performs moral decision-making.
(Ecc.3:11)
Understanding what it Looks Like to Live the image of God in Everyday Life
Being created in the image of God changes how one views one's identity.
One of the more significant identity crises in culture today is defining one's
gender. However, one of the greatest blessings of being a Christian today is
knowing who we are as God's creation and why we exist. How one views their
creation in the image of God changes how one considers the idea of justice,
mercy, love, and respect in everyday life. It is in God, as Paul exclaims, that we
live, move, breathe, and find our being.
14 Westminster Shorter Catechism, A1.
187
Not only is human creativity a product of God’s work in creation, but the weekly cycle
of work and rest is as well. This weekly pattern is mirrored in eternity, as humans work
for their lifetimes and then enjoy an eternal Sabbath rest in heaven through faith in Jesus
Christ.
The doctrine of creation ultimately points us to that reality and calls us to “strive
to enter that rest” by holding fast to Jesus Christ by faith to the end (Heb. 4:9-
11).
Talk Back Questions
The Doctrine of Creation
Scripture to Memorize: Colossians 1:16; Genesis 1:26-27
Scripture to be familiar with:
Genesis 1-2; Ex. 34:10; Colossians 1:16; John 1:1-3; Ps. 33:6; Is. 55:10-11; Rev. 4:11;
Ps. 8; Heb. 11:3; Heb. 4:9-11; Ps. 139:13-14; Rom. 1:18-20; Jer. 32:17; Acts 17:28; Mal.
2:10.
Why should the truth of creation stop us in our tracks and drop us to our knees in awe
and wonder?
How does reading Genesis chapters 1 and 2 put us in our proper place and God in His?
How do we view the doctrine of creation at the epicenter of everything we say that we
believe? How does everything else fall apart if we do not understand God’s creation
well?
How does having a proper view of God’s creation of the world and everything in it give
us a better understanding of ownership?
How does having a good view of creation help us understand the position of human
authority? (See Rom. 13:1)
How does understanding the doctrine of creation help shape our identity?
How does the doctrine of creation help remind us that we are not at the center of our
universe?
How does the doctrine of creation help shape our understanding of sex and sexuality?
What happens when we do not consider creation in this area of life?
How does the doctrine of creation help remind us that life is a glory war?
How does the doctrine of creation confront our independence and call us back to
dependent living, which is God’s norm?
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How does a proper understanding of the doctrine of creation remind us that it is not just
about origins but also who we are and how God designed us to live here and now?
Group
Collaborative
Application
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the Doctrine of The Creation to
incorporate into your daily lives. (In the next session, your group will gauge the
effectiveness of your action step.)
189
Session 5 The Doctrine of Sin
Goal 1 is to understand the doctrine of original sin.
A. If you do not believe in the tragedy and universality of sin, then you will think
that humans can fix themselves.
B. If you believe that humanity's most profound problem is sin, then you know we
cannot fix ourselves together.
C. Understanding original sin begins with understanding the disaster in the garden.
Goal 2: Why does knowing what original sin looks like in Everyday Life Matter?
A. It gives falsehood a platform and foolishness the power to seduce.
B. The problem of sin in the world is not a case of behavior modification.
C. Theology of sin requires a theology of the heart.
D. We can only solve the problem of Humanity with a Theology of Sin.
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Understanding
the
Doctrine
of
Original
Sin
What is the Biblical evidence for original sin? Scripture declares that we are naturally born
sinners. Psalm 51:5 states that we all come into the world in the same position as
sinners.
Original Sin is a term that defines the nature
of mankind’s sinful condition
because of Adam’s fall. (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22)
We all enter the world guilty before God.
Scripture says that we are
born sinners and, by nature, sinners:
Psalm 51:5 states that we all come into the world as sinners: “Behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity and sin; my mother conceived me.” Ephesians 2:2 says that all people not in
Christ are “sons of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:3 also establishes this, saying we are all
“children of wrath.”15
Scripture speaks of humans as unrighteous from infancy:
Some verses declare that we have all been unrighteous from the time that we were born.
Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.” Genesis 8:21
declares, “. . . the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” In his classic work
The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended, Jonathan Edwards remarks
on this verse: “The word translated youth signifies the whole of the former part of
the age of man, which commences from the beginning of life.16
Humanity is described in general terms as unrighteous:
Unrighteousness is often spoken of in Scripture as something belonging to humanity.
This implies that it is the property of our species. In other words, sinfulness is
considered a property of human nature after the fall. Thus, it must be concluded that
we are all born sinners since we are all born human, and sin is regarded as a property
of humanity. In this vein, consider Ephesians 2:1-3. Paul is reminding Christians here
what they were like before their conversion.17
Listen to how R.C. Sproul describes original sin:
We do not mean the first sin when discussing the original sin. That’s where people
get confused. Original sin is not the original sin or the first sin ever committed.
Original sin refers to the result of the first sin. What original sin refers to is this
fallen sin nature that is part of the punishment for the first sin. When
15 Matt Perman, “What is the Biblical Evidence for Original Sin,” January 23, 2006,
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-biblical-evidence-for-original-sin.
16 Perman.
17 Ibid.
One of the sad results of sin is that the average sinner on the street carries
with him little, if any, awareness, understanding, or guilt of sin. Sin is no
longer a category in people’s minds or in our culture.
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Adam and Eve acted against God, they didn’t act as private individuals. Adam’s
very name, Adam, means what? Man. Eve, woman, the mother of the living. These
two stood as our supreme representatives before almighty God.18
If humanity is not born in sin, would we not expect there to be some people who have
“beaten the odds” and never sinned?
If we are born innocent and good, why aren’t there at least some people who have
continued in this state and remained sinless? The fact that everybody sins requires an
explanation. The best answer is that we are sinners by nature. Someone might argue that
all people sin because society is sinful, and thus, society renders it impossible for
anybody to keep themselves entirely pure. But that only pushes the question back one
step. How did society get sinful in the first place? If people are born morally good, how
did they assemble into societies that influence all people to sin?19
Johnathan Edwards also says, “Why should man be so continually spoken of as
evil, carnal, perverse, deceitful, and desperately wicked, if all men are by nature
as perfectly innocent, and free from any propensity to evil, as Adam was the first
moment of his creation?”20
Why
does
knowing
what
original
sin
looks
like
in
Everyday
Life
Matter?
If you do not believe in the tragedy and universality of sin, then you will think
that humans have the power to fix humans.
When sin is a category you’ve left behind, you must explain human tragedies
differently.
18 R.C. Sproul, “Original Sin,” May 23, 2022, https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/ultimately-with-
rc-sproul/original-sin-ultimately-podcast.
19 Perman.
20 Johnathan Edwards, The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin: Defended in the Works of
Johnathan Edwards Volume 3, (New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press, 1970), 188.
We have seen that human beings are masters at the game of excusing sin.
We engage in this practice because we see our sin as something on the
surface, something that is only a slight mark on our humanness. We’ll
willingly acknowledge we’re not perfect because we don’t fully grasp just
how imperfect we are. In our ignorance, we can even make the incredible
assumption that we’ll be able to stand on Judgment Day by entering as our
plea, “I did my best.”
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Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:15 that selfishness is in the DNA of sin. Sin makes life all
about me. It causes me to shrink my world down to the size of my wants, needs, and
feelings. So, Jesus came more to rescue us from ourselves than from things outside of us.
Sin is not a surface problem; it is a matter of radical corruption that goes to the
core of our being.
Romans 3 may be the best statement of this truth. Again and again, in this
monumental chapter, Paul hacks away at our self-confidence, revealing a depth of sin
that most of us never dream might be the case within us.
“There is none righteous, no not one” (v. 10b). This is the universal negative; it tells us
first that we all have sin.
“There is none who understands” (v. 11a). Understands what? The holiness of God.
Righteousness requires correct thinking; we must understand who our God is.
“There is none who seeks after Him” (v. 11b). All humanity seeks the benefits that only
God can give, but they want nothing to do with Himself. It is human nature not to seek
God but to flee from Him.
“There is none who does good, not one” (v.12b). The word good is a relative term in
our culture today. Something is judged to be good or bad according to a certain standard.
We may think our actions are good, but according to God’s standard of goodness, His
norm of righteousness, no human being in his natural state does good.
Sin has left us unable to please God, even on our best days, until God begins his
redemptive
work in our hearts.
Sin in Everyday
Life
Sin is a matter of the Heart.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand
it? Jeremiah 17:9
Your biggest problem in life is not your spouse, neighbor, friend, parent,
children, church, culture, government, physical disease, financial stress,
boss, fellow workers, godless professor, or seductive media. Your biggest
problem lives inside of you. It is remaining sin, with its power to deceive.
193
Many Christian parents lack a biblical theology of original sin; therefore, they
reduce Christian parenting to a system of managing and controlling the behavior
of their children.
The same becomes true for our marriages. They become law-bound. They are
shaped by a cycle of rules, expectations, disappointments, and
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the
secret heart.7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have
broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right[a] spirit within me.
Psalm 51:6-10
Sin closes
our
eyes to reality.
Sin is deceptive because it lulls us into minimizing our transgressions.
“Sin is darkness masquerading as light. Sin is foolishness masquerading as wisdom. Sin
is a disease masquerading as a cure. Sin is a trap masquerading as a gift. No matter how
it presents itself to you, sin is never what it appears and will never deliver what it
promises.”21
Sin turns us all into Addicts.
Hear what Jesus says: “Truly, Truly, I say to you, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.”
(John 8:34 NASB)
Part of the addicting power of sin is its Noetic effects.
21 Tripp, 288.
Hope for sinners is only ever found in the person and work of the
Redeemer, Jesus Christ, because sin is not just a matter of behavior, but it
is a matter of the heart. If our problem were simply that we do wrong
things, then various systems of behavioral management, control, and
reform could help us deal with the problem. But if sin is, in fact, a problem
of the heart, then lasting change in a person’s behavior will always travel
194
Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to him, but they
became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on earth and that every intention of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
We cannot solve society's problems without adequately understanding the
doctrine of sin.
Talk Back Questions
The Doctrine of Sin
Scripture to Memorize: 1 John 1:7-8
Scripture to be familiar with:
See Gen. 2:16–17; 3:12–13; 6:5; Job 14:4; Ps. 51:1–5; Eccles. 7:20; Jer. 13:23; 17:9;
Ezek. 14:1–5; Matt. 5:28; 15:19; Luke 6:43–45; Rom. 1:28–32; 3:9, 23; 5:12–19; 6:20;
7:18–23; 8:7; 1 Cor. 6:9–10; 15:21–22, 45–49; 2 Cor. 11:3; Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 2:1–3;
Col. 1:21; 3:5; 1 Thess. 1:10; Titus 1:15; Heb. 2:14–15; James 1:14–15; 4:17; 1 John 1:8.
If we do not believe in the tragedy of universality, how does it lead humanity to
downplay the seriousness of sin?
If you believe that the most profound problem for every human being is sin and that no
human being can escape it, how does it change your view of your salvation?
How does a good view of original sin guard us against thinking God needs our help?
How does 2 Corinthians 5:15 put everything in focus regarding the doctrine of sin?
How does sin cause us to shrink our world to the size of our wants, needs, and feelings?
How does sin, as our nature, leave us hopeless?
How does the word transgress effectively describe sin?
How does sin twist and distort the good things that God has created?
How would your family structure, i.e., parenting, marriage, and sex, be better if there
were no sin in the world?
How have we become so used to our sin-soaked world that it becomes a part of our
routine, causing us to minimize sin in our daily lives?
How is sin seen as a matter of the heart?
195
How is your biggest problem in life, not your spouse, not your boss, not your children,
not your church, not your government, but sin?
Group
Collaborative
Application
Collaborate on one practical action step from the Doctrine of Sin to incorporate into your
daily life. (In the next session, your group will gauge the effectiveness of your action
step.)
196
Session 6 The Doctrine of Justification and Sanctification
Goal 1 is to understand justification as it relates to one’s identity.
A. The two most essential words in justification are ‘In Christ.’ (Identity is a game
changer.)
Goal 2 is to understand what justification looks like in everyday life.
A. The gospel of justification is a brand-new culture to live in.
B. The gospel of justification means humbly admitting the damage that sin has done.
C. The gospel of justification fills our hearts with gratitude.
D. The gospel of justification gives us freedom in everyday spaces of life.
E. The gospel of justification helps us reach our potential in Him.
F. The gospel of justification helps us understand the value of the gift.
Goal 3 is to understand the gospel of sanctification.
A. Sanctification is the ongoing lifelong rescuing of ourselves from us.
B. Sanctification is the ongoing defeat of the sin that remains.
C. Sanctification is the ongoing difference between death and life.
D. Sanctification is the ongoing work of the spirit and His life-renewing work in our
lives.
E. Sanctification is the ongoing work of the law and grace to rescue us from sin.
F. Sanctification is the ongoing work of patience in our lives.
Goal 4 is to understand what sanctification looks like in everyday life.
A. God uses Sanctification to transform us in the little moments of everyday life.
B. God uses Sanctification to transform his purpose for us into our ordinary purpose.
C. God uses Sanctification to transform His work in our day-to-day spiritual work.
D. God uses Sanctification to transform His greater purpose for our everyday
relationships.
E. God uses Sanctification to transform us as an in-all and everything process.
F. God uses sanctification to transform us in difficult times.
G. God uses Sanctification to transform us into daily devotion.
197
Understanding Justification as it relates to one’s identity. Social
Identity Theory
The motive of the ego justification is to protect and enhance a person’s positive identity
by defending and improving oneself.22
The problem we face is that God is just, and we are unjust.
We can illustrate the problem with the two following circles:
God-Man Humanity
Just Unjust
How do we reconcile the conflict between a holy, righteous God and a fallen,
unjust human being?
Dr. R.C. Sproul
“Let us suppose that the circle on the right represents the character of mankind. If man
sins, that sin puts a blemish of sorts, a moral blemish, on the character of fallen man.
If he commits another sin, and sin penetrates more deeply into his life, we might add
another dot. The issue then becomes how much of the circle should be shaded when
judged by the standard of God’s perfection.”23
Human corruption is total.
Understanding what Justification looks like in Everyday Life
Justification and the Double Transfer.
Not only is the sin of mankind imputed to Christ, but His righteousness is
transferred to our account.
22 Mark Rubin, Chuma Kevin Owuamalam, Russell Spears & Luca Caricati (2023) A social
identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA): Multiple explanations of system justification by the
disadvantaged that do not depend on a separate system justification motive, European Review of Social
Psychology, 34:2, 203-243, DOI: 10.1080/10463283.2022.2046 422
23 R.C. Sproul, Saved from What? (Arbor, Mich.: Ligonier Ministry, 2021), 84.
No wonder the author of Hebrews asked, “How shall we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation…? (Heb. 2:3). That is a rhetorical question. The answer to
the question is obvious. How will we escape? We will not. We cannot, because
it is impossible for an unjust person to survive in the presence of God. We need
to be justified.
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a
vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house,
and ready for every good work.
2 Timothy 2:21 ESV
198
God-Man Humanity
with the credited with the imputed
the sin of Man righteousness of Jesus
If the imputed righteousness of God were fictional, then it would be a lie and blemish
His very character.
The whole point of the Gospel is that at the last minute, I embrace Christ; all He
has done is applied to me.
Understanding The Gospel
of
Sanctification
Sanctification means to be reserved for holy use. Every believer's objective from the
moment of salvation should be to seek sanctification wholeheartedly. Sanctification
demonstrates the urgency of being emptied of anything that impairs being a valuable
vessel for God’s glory. It’s a process that starts in the heart and transforms outwardly
living. The Bible is the instrument that God uses to clean our hearts.
God is not satisfied with just calling us righteous.
Sanctification is a lifelong process of redeeming grace upon grace.
Sanctification is the process by which God makes us what He has declared us to
be in Christ.
“The focus of the process of sanctification is not rescuing us from external evil, with
all its temptations, which is everywhere around us. The primary focus of
sanctification is the ongoing, lifelong rescue of us from us. Although we have been
forgiven, declared righteous, and adopted as God’s children, the muck and mess of
Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as
in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both
to will and to work for his good pleasure.
The sin that remains inside of us is progressively put to death. Imagine buying
a new home that is incredibly beautiful in every way possible. Imagine the
excitement as you open the door and move from room to room. Imagine your
gratitude and joy. Now imagine that your house has a major problem even
with all your joy. A malevolent and deceitful killer lives there as well.
However, enticing his words may seem he is out for one thing: to do you
harm. He wants to rob you of your great joy for the new home you have been
given and destroy your trust in your benefactor. Would you not do everything
possible to get him out of your house? Would you ever make room for him in
your house?
199
sin remain in us. The doctrine of sanctification requires you to admit that you are
deeply in need of help.” -Paul Tripp24
Sanctification is a call to obedience and to run after everything that is ours in
Christ. Therefore, we see the grace of God applied to every aspect of our lives.
Because sin still lives inside us, there is an ongoing war of worship in our hearts,
pulling us back and forth between worship of God and worship of some created
thing.
We are called never to stop working out salvation, never allowing ourselves to take it
for granted, never permitting ourselves to become spiritually lazy, and never
abandoning the spiritual disciplines of which we have been called
Sanctification is a death-to-life process.
God’s solution: Romans 8:7-9; 12-13.
24
Tripp, 345.
200
We do not have the power to kill it ourselves, but we have confidence in the
spirit's presence and work in us.
Colossians 3:1–4 is very helpful here:
If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated
at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things
that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, you will also appear with him in glory.
This is a call for us to actively pursue all the new-life blessings flowing down to
us from the throne of the risen and reigning Savior.
Understanding Sanctification in Everyday Life
There is no such thing as a passive Christian.
-Paul Tripp
“The Christian life is welcome to make God’s purpose for you your daily life
purpose. This means God’s work in and for you also becomes your work. Your
Christian life is about much more than regular church attendance, faithful giving,
biblical literacy, theological knowledge, and occasional ministry. These are all
very good things, but they are tools in the hands of a much deeper, more personal
plan that your Redeemer has for you.”25
We should never become satisfied with where we are as Christians.
Galatians 5 is beneficial here, laying out God’s agenda for us.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.......But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit,
let us also keep in step with the Spirit”. (Gal. 5:16, 22–25)
Notice how this passage begins and ends. It starts with “walk by the Spirit” and ends
with “keep in step with the Spirit.”
25 Tripp, 361.
So, you get up in the morning and you pray, “Lord, I am not as loving as your
grace enables me to be. Please work in my heart to make me more loving, and
please open my eyes today to all the opportunities you will give me to love
others as you have loved me.”
Where do we do this work? Wherever our day takes us. Each job, each
social interaction, each new challenge, each trial, each situation, and each
decision is an opportunity to take one more step on the road to
Christlikeness.
201
The call to sanctification is a call to a spiritual work
ethic .
No, we are not working for a greater acceptance of God. In Christ, our acceptance is
complete, but we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). So,
in holy awe of the one who lives inside of us, working to change us radically, we make
his work our life’s work. His priorities become our priorities. His agenda for our daily
lives becomes our agenda. How would our lives radically change if we viewed our lives
this way?
There is no such thing as a vibrant, ever-maturing, ministering Christian apart
from the local church's ministry. (Eph. 4:11-16)
Think of how every ministry of the body of Christ contributes to your spiritual
growth, death, and life process. We can’t comprehensively explore everything in this
passage, but Paul points out “sanctification needs,” which are in every believer's life,
and the church's ministry addresses that.
Sanctification gives all our social relationships a new model and purpose.
But the doctrine of sanctification does something else in our relationships; it
blesses them with a better model. Many Christians have a piecemeal,
moment-by-moment, how-are-things-going-today way of evaluating their
relationships. Am I happy today? Did we fight today? Did I win today? Did I
feel loved today? How do I keep that conversation from becoming
contentious? Of course, the questions go on and on. Many people treat their
relationships as a series of helpful, happy, or hurtful moments. They don’t
have a long-term model or the patience and perseverance that such a model
requires.
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These relationships expose the depth of our selfishness and rebellion, revealing our need for
everything that is ours in Christ.
If we are all in a long-term transformation process, our relationships must be
characterized by self-sacrifice, patience, and perseverance.
Difficulty is one primary means by which we are being sanctified.
You have probably never heard anyone say, “I have had the three most amazing years of my
life.” There are too many passages to mention in scripture that describe the things we
would rather avoid, which are the things God uses to produce the best in our lives. He is
repositioning our very DNA (2 Corinthians 5:15)
Talk Back Questions
The Doctrine of Justification
Scripture Memory: 1 John 1:7-10 Justification
Scripture to be familiar with:
Ps. 32:5; 51; 89:31–33; 110:1; Isa. 53:5–6; Matt. 6:12; 26; John 1:12; 6:37; 10:15–16, 28;
17:2, 6–9; Rom. 3:24–28; 4:5–8, 22–25; 5:10–19; 8:9, 14, 30–32; 1 Cor. 1:30–31; 15:25–
26; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:8–9; 5:6; Eph. 1:7–9; 2:8–10; Phil. 3:8, 9; Col. 1:21–22; 2:13–15;
1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 3:4–7; Heb. 9:14–15; 10:14; James 2:17, 22, 26; 1 Pet. 1:2, 18–19;
1 John 1:7–9; 5:20.
The Doctrine of Sanctification Scripture
Memory: Philippians 1:6 Scripture to be
familiar with:
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See John 17:17; Acts 20:32; Rom. 6:5–6, 14, 19; 7:18, 23; 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Cor. 3:18; 7:1;
Gal. 5:17, 24; Eph. 3:16–19; 4:15–16; 5:26; Col. 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:7; 5:21–23; 2 Thess.
2:13; 2 Tim. 2:21; Heb. 10:10, 14; 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2; 2:11.
How does scripture constantly remind us of the gap between a holy God and His unholy
people?
How would you respond to the following statement and why? There is no such thing as
Christian theology that doesn’t clearly understand the doctrine of justification at its core.
How are all other formal religions built on fear, divine anger, and bondage to a law from
which believers never escape? How does this affect how we approach a world under
these precepts?
How is the gospel of justifying grace not just a means of entrance into a relationship with
God and a guarantee of eternity with him but a brand-new culture to be lived right here,
right now?
How does justifying grace move us from the paralyzing burden of guilt?
How is the focus of the process of sanctification not rescuing us from external evil, with
all its temptations, but saving us from us?
How is sanctification all about a desperately needed heart transplant?
How is sanctification a death and life process?
How is sanctification in the Christian life a welcome to make God’s purpose for your
daily life your purpose?
Group
Collaborative
Application
Collaborate on one practical action step from the Doctrine of Justification and
Sanctification to incorporate into your daily life. (In the next session, your group will
gauge the effectiveness of your action step.)
The world bombards us daily with perspective ideas: We are encouraged to adopt
a liberal or conservative perspective on just about everything; there is also a
feminist perspective and Christian perspective on just about everything. Lying
beneath all these perspectives is always a worldview. Perspectives are not given
in a vacuum. A whole set of assumptions about how the world is rests behind
every one of these perspectives. Our worldview is affected by the perspective
that we see and hear.
The Bible, too, has a worldview. Because it is God’s revelation of himself, the
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Book 2 Engaging Culture in Everyday Life
Section 1 The Mission of Living out a Biblical Worldview
Goal: to understand how to Live out our biblical worldview in the culture in which
we live.
A. Developing a biblical worldview.
1. Asking the four worldview questions
2. Applying the worldview questions from an American perspective.
B. Applying the biblical worldview in our current culture
1. Barriers to developing a biblical mindset.
2. The benefits of developing a biblical worldview
Section
1
The
Mission of
Living
out
a
Biblical
Worldview
Carl Trueman Concedes in his article “Six Ways Christians Can Respond to Our Strange
World” that:
“The world has shifted underneath our feet. Cultures’ new notions of selfhood
have challenged traditional Christian views, leaving one in a hostile place where
it’s dangerous to challenge the new status quo.”26
The challenge we face is understanding one's biblical worldview through the lenses of
scripture and how we apply it to our present culture.
26 Carl Trueman, “6 Ways Christians Can Respond to Our Strange New World,” The Gospel
Coalition,
(2022), https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/respond-strange-new-world/.
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The Bible gives us insight into God’s way of seeing things. It is the final authority—“the
supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be
tried.”27 Therefore, we should seek to adjust our worldview to God’s, that is, to the
biblical worldview.
If the Bible is relevant for all aspects of life—and it is—then the biblical
worldview must govern how we see every aspect of our lives, make decisions,
and even our attitudes daily.
Developing a Biblical Worldview
WHAT A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW IS NOT
It is not just a set moral
system.
Traditional morality, where people are friendly, honest, hard-working, and exercise good
manners and taste, is not a bad thing in and of itself. These values are commanded for a
person living a Godly life. However, the Christian lifestyle is much more than just moral
respectability.
It is not a radical
form of morality.
Others identify a Christian worldview with a more radical morality. Ron Sider’s Rich
Christians in an Age of Hunger called Christians to devote time and resources to world
hunger, but others have called believers to devote themselves to missions or something
else. This looks attractive partly because it emphasizes the radical difference between
how Christians should live and how most of the world lives. Living a biblical lifestyle
will put one on a different path from most people.28 However, not all are called to sell
everything, move to Africa on a mission, or abandon their conventional job to become
full-time pastors.
It is not a political statement.
Some have identified a “biblical worldview” with a particular political position or stance.
Such stances are undoubtedly a part of one's worldview. However, it is a mistake to
identify one's political beliefs or favorite issues with their biblical worldview. The Bible
should be our primary means of viewing politics rather than letting politics shape how
we read the Bible.
It is not identified solely with a particular doctrinal
position.
27 Southern Baptist Convention, “The Baptist Faith and Message 2000,” Section One: “The
Scriptures,” accessed November 29, 2023, http://www.sbc.org/bfm/bfm2000.asp#i.
28 Ron Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), 17.
Harold Turner, the late professor at Selly Oak Missionary College in
Birmingham, England declared that there are only three ways of
understanding a biblical world, atomic, oceanic, and relational.
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Doctrinal positions include Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and a particular view of
eschatology or sanctification. The Bible alone is far richer and more complex than an
‘ism.’
What a Biblical Worldview Is
A biblical worldview is comprehensive.
It includes everything related to the doctrines, values, priorities, and understanding of
how the world works that the Bible commends and promotes. It looks at the modern
world through the lenses of the Bible rather than looking at the Bible using the lenses of
the contemporary world.29
Biblical Worldview Paradigms and Methods
The quick overview
We are familiar with schemes like “Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Such an approach
helps one understand the overarching story of the Bible. I would suggest that such a
method is viable for discovering the overall framework of scripture. However, a fully
formed biblical worldview will require much more than this. It will require deeper
thinking than creation, fall, and redemption.
FRAMEWORKS IN WHICH WORLDVIEWS ARE UNDERSTOOD
The atomic worldview
Most Americans ascribe to the atomic worldview. Like billiard balls on a table, everyone
is a unit separate from everyone else. They touch and interact, but in the end, they do not
affect one another very much.
The oceanic worldview.
This method says that all things are underlying manifestations of reality. This is what the
Hindu worldview is like; all that exists is Brahman. The visible world is an illusion, and
we must overcome or escape the illusion and be absorbed back into Brahman because we
are one with Brahman. The ocean represents this view well; if you are standing waist-
deep in the water and scoop some water into your hand, then let it slip through your
29 Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 14.
Exodus 34:7 tells us, God “will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing
the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and
grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” In the New Testament,
the church is likened to a body, with the parts all joined together (1 Cor
12:12–27). Because of Adam’s sin, “all die” (we are all affected by Adam)
and “in Christ all will be made alive” (what he did 2,000 years ago affects
our spiritual condition today) (1 Cor 15:22).
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fingers, then scoop up another handful, you really cannot tell whether you scooped up the
same water of different water a second time. The second scoop of water appears identical
to the first and similar to the rest of the water in the ocean, for it is, in reality, one with
it.
The relational worldview.
All things in life are interconnected; they exist in relationship to what is around them so
that what is done in one place affects the rest. This is the worldview of the Bible and
many other traditional, rural, and tribal societies. The Bible sees us all as interconnected.
What is done by one affects all the others, even future generations.
Much of the moral teaching in the Bible is based on the actions of one who affects others
in the community.
This is one reason why we need help with the biblical worldview. We live in an atomic
worldview culture and try to read the Bible through that lens, and the Bible presents
reality in relational terms. When the Bible says we are all “in Christ ,” we tend to see that
as meaning we all agree on who Christ is and have similar moral and spiritual
practices.30
Answering the Four Biblical Worldview Questions
Question #1: Who are we?
30 Fred C. Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview: Seeing Things God’s Way (B&H Publishing
Group: Kindle Edition, 7.
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All human beings live in the tension between who we are as created in God’s image and
who we are as fallen, sinful people. All Christians have the added dimension of the
Indwelling Spirit of God for power and guidance in living as people in whom God's
image is progressively restored.
People begin to answer the “who are we” question in the early stages of childhood;
however, it continues to grow as we mature, mainly as we grow in Christ.
The Second level question one must answer is, “Who are we in Christ?”
What do we mean by the words “I am a Christian,” “I am redeemed,” or “I am a new
creature in Christ?” We must also arrive at this level to live out our biblical worldview.
1. We are Created in the Image
of God
Like many biblical teachings, it’s easy to say, “I am created in God’s image,” without
giving it much thought.
The word “tselem " (in Greek) means a “representation of God.”
THE CHARACTERISTICS WE SHARE IN COMMON WITH GOD
His Personality
We are beings with personality (mind, will, and emotions).
His Mind.
We, too, are aware of ourselves and the world around us. We know the condition of our
environment and what is happening around us. We evaluate situations, and we know the
conditions of things we own. As Christians, we should seek to conform our thinking to
God’s ways as much as possible, given our limitations. We must learn to see things in
God’s way, as he has revealed his mind to us in Scripture.
The cultural view says:
1). We are in the highest stage of evolution and, therefore, one among
different kinds of animals.
2). We are basically very sophisticated computers, different from other
computers only in degree.
One of these views places us as part of nature – a product of the natural world
and denies the spiritual dimension altogether. The other denies the importance
of nature and the spiritual, making us nothing more than carbon-based
machines.
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His Will.
Will is the ability to “make decisions, to set goals, and to move in the direction of those
goals.” Throughout the Bible, God willed certain things to be so and made them happen.
God wills a thing and carries out his will. The most well-known statement is in Isaiah
55:11: “My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will
accomplish.
We share this characteristic of God’s will. However, it is limited. We make plans and set
our intentions, but unlike God, we may not always accomplish what we will. As James
4:13-15 illustrates, we may do something such as move to another city, buy and sell, and
make a profit. We are a people who can carry out our will but on a more limited basis
than God.
His Emotions
Emotions mark part of God’s personality. God feels outrage (Ps 106:40), joy (Prov
11:20), love (John 3:16), and anger (Num 12:9)—the full range of emotions. We have
the same emotions as God on a lower scale. Just as God loves his creation, we love our
families (Duet 14:26). As God feels kindly toward his people, we usually think kindly
toward those around us. As God feels outraged at unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), we are
outraged at injustices done in the world. God's image within us also involves our
“spiritual and moral integrity.” Who are we? We are moral beings with moral feelings,
and we make moral choices.31
2. We are Fallen
Creatures
There is another aspect to the “Who are we?” question we must face: We are fallen
creatures, sinners by nature. This is true of every one of us.32
We disobey our creator even though we are dependent on Him for everything. Even
though we are created in God's image, and that image has not been erased, it is marred by
the reality of sin every day. We live in constant tension between the fact that we are
created in God's image and the reality that arises from our sinful desires.
3. We are Physical Beings and Spiritual
Beings.
One of the most apparent traits we all share is that we are both physical and spiritual,
nonmaterial beings. We have bodies, and our bodies are real and significant. These two
aspects, physical and spiritual, are joined together within one person. We are not merely
31 Smith, 22-23.
32 Daniel L. Akin, A Theology for the Church (Nashville, Tenn: B&H Publishing, 2014), 451.
When we share the gospel with others, we must recognize that we are
calling people to repent of wrong behaviors and change their mindset
about who they are. “Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus”
(Acts 20:21) must include a change in the answer to the “Who are we?”
question for those we seek to bring to Christ.
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spirits trapped in bodies. We are “materialized unitary beings” whose everyday life
involves our bodies and souls.33
4. We are Christians.
The world is divided into two categories: those who are saved and those who are lost.
If you have trusted Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, you may answer with all
Christians that you are “regenerate,” – which means that the image of God is being
restored in us. This is not an all-at-once occurrence but a continual life-long process.
OTHER ASPECTS TO WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST
We are a body of Christ people.
We are forgiven people.
We are an indwelt people.
Question #2: Where are We?
Most people today have no idea where they are in relationship to God and his creation.
The “Where are We” question is fundamental; the Bible begins with the answer: God
created the heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1).
1. What Kind of World did God Create?
The world is a product of God's love that existed before creation, and it is testimony to
the greatness of his love that he created us and put us here. This starkly contrasts the
mechanistic view of the universe, where everything began with a “big bang.” Such a
universe offers no place for love or moral goodness.34
The Universe was created to reflect God's glory. It reflects God's nature and reveals
things about His nature.
33 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Ada, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2013) 555.
34 Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a Sixteenth
Century Catechism (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2010), 52.
Because we are in the world God created, which is a fallen world, and
because we are in a community, we are in a particular cultural setting.
That cultural setting is not perfect. We live in the tension between the
world as “wonderful,” because God made it so, and as “fallen” because
mankind has made it so. The cultural setting, we live in participates in
both “wonderful” and “fallen” realities. (Philippians 4:11-12 emphasized)
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This differs from the mechanistic view of creation, where the heavens say nothing
but that math works. In this worldview, there is no God, no one who loves or gives
order and purpose to creation. Indeed, in a mechanical universe, as Carl Sagan
said, “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was, or ever will be.”35
God Calls the World Good
The world is good, even if our circumstances do not work out. It is not a place of random
events. Unlike mechanistic and naturalistic worldviews, which see no ultimate value in
creation, Christians can and must affirm its essential goodness apart from themselves.
God is pleased with what He has created because it has value.
1) Moral goodness: Many people, even those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior, recognize the value of good morals.
2) The goodness of Truth: We live in a world where truth matters, a world where
we are to think about “whatever is true . . .” (Phil 4:8). He is a God of truth, a God
who cares about the truth, and this is reflected in the creation itself. Truth
indicates that creation accurately represents itself to us.
3) Aesthetic goodness: Where are we? We are in a place that is marked by beauty
and aesthetic goodness. To understand the aesthetic beauty of God’s creation, we
must recognize beauty itself as objective. Not the world’s view, which says,
“Beaty is in the eye of the beholder.” So, creation is beautiful because of the
character of God.
2. How do We Relate Properly to the World?
Sin affects our ability to achieve our goals and dreams. The curse of the fall is why
things do not always work out as planned.
God has placed us where He expects us to live a certain way.
35 Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985), 1.
Many would answer the question of what is wrong, assuming it to be at the
universal level. If we had better schools, life would be better. Others might
assert that psychology was supposed to cure everyone’s problems at one time.
Yet another approach says that is what is wrong with the economy. We need
to reform the economic institution. Still, others believe that what is wrong is
due to broader social and cultural trends. The assumption is that the
fundamental human problem is happiness, and we must work to increase it.
Those who see the problem as primarily the economy assumes that the
ultimate good is found in material well-being in what we own and use. Those
who see these problems as educational may believe in the essential goodness
of mankind rather than teaching that “all have sinned.”
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Question #3 What is Wrong?
All of God’s creation senses some insurmountable problem with the world that must be
resolved. Therefore, we must find biblical ways to understand the answer to the “What is
wrong?” question in specific areas of life.
However, all these answers are not universal because they deal with specific aspects of
life, not their totality. Part of wisdom is not just recognizing sin as an overarching
problem at the root of all other issues. The culmination of all the answers we could come
up with comes down to sin in one form or another.
We must understand and take sin seriously to embrace a biblical worldview.
THE UNIVERSAL REALITY OF SIN
Sin is everywhere, and it affects everything.
Popular culture exalts and idolizes behavior that we know from God’s word is inherently
sinful. Every day, when we walk out the doors of our houses, we are bombarded with
evidence of the sinfulness of humanity. Because the world rarely calls out “sin,” we miss
the depth of the problem. We begin to adopt some of the languages of the world for what
the Bible calls sinful things, such as a misstep, a mistake, a wrong move, etc. Seeing
things God’s way requires us to pay serious attention to what the Bible teaches about sin.
Sin is the fundamental problem behind all the issues.
Our problems, problems in the larger community, and problems worldwide result from
the same problem: sin. We must accept this if we are to reach our world Biblically.
Sin is rebellion simply because we were created to live in utter dependence on
God. He placed Adam and Eve in the garden and gave them everything they
needed to be sufficient. He made it clear that all He required of them was that
they love and obey Him in an attitude of dependence, and all would go well
with them. The great rebellion ensued as Adam and Eve decided that they
could make better decisions for their lives than God.
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There is no such thing as someone who does not sin, who does not, at some level,
rebel against God. We understand that it starts early, as even some secular
studies on human nature have shown. Small children learn quickly to say,
gimmie, gimmie, that’s mine! Sharing and concern for others are not bound up in
the heart of a child but, instead, rebellion (Proverbs 22:15).36
Types of Sins:
Sin comes in many forms. The Bible describes it in different words: depravity, error,
missing the mark, iniquity, guilt (in actual wrong-doing, not guilty feelings), godlessness,
and ignorance. Other terms include perversion, transgression, wickedness, and betrayal.
Perhaps the best word used to describe sin is “rebellion.”
The ultimate result of the rebellion is continual deception.
Sin gives the wrong answers to the worldview questions.
For example:
The person who gives in to materialism might answer as follows:
1. Who are we? People who are happy when they own a lot of things.
2. Where are we? In a world that advertises all kinds of good things to hold and
promises happiness through them.
3. What is wrong? I cannot afford these things. God has not allowed me to prosper
that much.
4. What is the answer? Rebel against God and take what I want, using credit even if
I cannot repay it.37
36 Subhash Chandra Sharma, accessed December 7, 2023,
http://www.researchgate.net/post/Are_human_
beings_inherently_selfish.
37
Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview, 60.
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The person involved in sexual sin:
1) Who am I? Someone with deep-seated sexual drives.
2) Where am I? In a world that offers sexual pleasure in abundance.
3) What is wrong? Waiting for marriage takes too long, and God’s restrictions are
too harsh.
4) What is the answer? I rebel against God, do what I want, and worry about the
consequences later.
Eve, after listening to Satan, might have answered the questions like this:
1) Who am I? A person who wants to grow in knowledge of all things.
2) Where am I? In a garden that offers everything that I need.
3) What is wrong? One fruit that will “make me wise, giving me knowledge of good
and evil” is denied.
4) What is the answer? Rebel against God, take the fruit and become the person I
want to be.38
Giving the correct answer to the “What is Wrong?” question requires much more than
being able to quote 1 John 1:9 or even sharing the Roman road effectively. It is living in
awareness of how sin affects every facet of life, every relationship, and every social
institution you encounter and learning how to deal with the natural world considering this
reality.
What is the Answer?
1) Some questions are answered within the problem itself.
For example, what is 2+2? The answer lies within the problem itself. You do not have to
look outside the question to find it.
2) There is another problem that does not include an answer within the problem
itself.
For example, if you turn the ignition on your car and nothing happens, you have a
problem. A quick investigation of the vehicle reveals that you are out of gas. The answer
to the problem is to take a gas can, go down to the gas station, and fill it with gas. The
answer to the problem is not contained within the car. You must bring in something from
the outside to solve the problem.
38 Many modern theologians wrongly attempt to portray the fall as a good thing. Adam and Eve
fell “upward” into fuller personhood, thus accomplishing the will of God for them. See Paul Tillich,
Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 259–60; Rollo May, The
Courage to Create (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994), 29–31.
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A solution from the outside must be a grace solution. That is, it must come in and
solve the problem freely without merit.
At the outset, the car illustration appears to break down. However, the car cannot pay
anything for the gasoline, so someone else must pay the cost or penalty for the gas.
Therefore, victory is not earned but freely given.
The solution became real at the cross.
REPENTANCE and FAITH are the two key indicators that someone is living the
biblical worldview,
Repentance, or Metanoia in Greek, is a change of mind but has an emotional element
attached. The term includes a change of desires, habits, and ways of thinking. In classical
Greek, the element of regret or grief is present at repentance. We read about “Godly
grief’ producing repentance in (2 Cor. 7:10).
Note: a show of excessive emotions and tears is not necessary or even an indicator of true
repentance.
Repentance is an act of the intellect and wil l. 39
Intellectually, it changes the way you think (Rom. 12:2). As an act of will or volition, it
changes the choices one makes. As far as emotions are concerned, they reject past beliefs
and behaviors.
Faith is both a one-time event and a lifestyle.40
Trusting Christ is a decision made at a specific time, but it is also a decision we choose
to make every day. By faith, one decides that God’s words accurately depict seeing
things as they are and, in turn, show us how to live.
Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem and to sin in the hearts and lives of every
human who lives and breathes on Earth.
Applying the Worldview Questions from an American Perspective
Most Americans have adopted some secular humanism that guides their day-to-day lives
despite professing a belief in God. (only 4% of Americans profess to either be atheists or
agnostics).
39 Kent R. Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth (Wheaton: Crossway, 1998), 82.
40 Walter Leifeld, Ephesians, IVP New Testament Commentary (Downers Grove: IVP, 1997), 64.
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America is a melting pot for many religions and subcategories of religions. Within those
categories, we are told that 16.1 percent of Americans claim no religious affiliations at
all.41
Today's challenge in discussing “The American Worldview” is the level of religious and
cultural diversity and the extent to which the secular influences worldview. It has become
part of everyday culture to ask whether there is a common culture in America.42
The question we must ask is how do we live biblically in a decidedly not biblical
world?
What is the difference between the American worldview and the biblical worldview?
1. The American worldview is primarily atomic, while the Biblical worldview is
relational.
Americans want to make their own decisions about life, while the Bible teaches faith in
God and complete dependence on him. Some might say that not all of America is entirely
individualistic. Which, in part, is true. The places where the relational worldview exists
have seen the Bible's influence on traditional American culture (American rural culture
has drawn specific values from the bible as a result).43
Audrey Hepburn is often credited with saying, “If you need a helping hand, it’s at
the end of your arm.” The Bible, on the other hand, values cooperation. Galatians
6:2 says, “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way, you will fulfill the law of
Christ.”44
2. The American worldview is decidedly secular. The biblical worldview places a
high value on living in a relationship with God.
41 Pew Research, Religion and Public Life Forum, Religious Landscape Survey, accessed
December 8, 2023, http://religions.pewforum.org/reports.
42 Robert N. Bellah, “Is There a Common American Culture?” Journal for the American
Academy of Religion 66, no. 3 (Fall 1998): 613–25, accessed December 10, 2023,
http://www.robertbellah.com/articles_6.htm.
43 K. Bryant Smalley, Jacob C. Warren, and Jackson P. Rainer, Rural Mental Health: Issues,
Policies, and Best Practices (New York: Springer Publishing, 2012), 81 –82.
44 Internet Movie Database, biography for Audrey Hepburn, accessed December 10, 2023,
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000030/bio.
This secular worldview is not entirely new. James wrote to correct a
secularist view of reality in his epistle: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or
tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and
do business and make a profit.’ You don’t even know what tomorrow will
bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little
while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live
and do this or that’” (James 4:13–15). James is correcting a secularist
assumption about the future with one dependent upon God.
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Our worldview should be formed and shaped by who God is and what He has done.
3. Americans see problems that they have internally between their minds and
emotions. (e.g., depression) – as only psychological problems. They do not see
them as spiritual problems.
Americans look at the world around them through secular eyes. They fail to discern the
reality of the fall in how people behave. They would assume a serial killer has
psychological problems, not a moral or spiritual problem.
The Evolutionary Paradigm in the Worldview Questions
While many Americans reject Darwin’s entire program, most believe in some modified
view of evolution.
Who are We?
We are the highest form of evolution. No other life form is higher than humankind. We
are the pinnacle of development that has gone on for eons.
Evolution allows us to be moral relativists. If we are responsible to no higher being, then
the basis of our morals must be found in the individual.
Where are we?
We are in a universe that is not only in motion but is unfinished.
An unfinished universe is one where nothing is “final,” including morals, principles for
wise living, and anything else. If everything is in process, then so is every idea. Nothing
is ever quite “nailed down.” This may be part of why we live in a world where divorce is
more common than ever.
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“Before evolution became common currency in our culture—a recent event,
marriage was seen as a “finished” thing, something accomplished, to be lived out
“for better or worse,” and both sides were committed to making it work.”45
What is Wrong, and What is the Answer?
Evolution does not directly answer these questions since it does not recognize the
importance of purpose.
This would assume something that “ought to be” and desire a way to make things right or
bring them into a proper state.
If moral values are relative, then what is wrong is that too many people think that values
are absolute. However, if moral values are always tentative and evolving, then what is
bad is that the absolute moral structures of the past too often restrain society.
Social justice, for example, is often presented as an unfinished task requiring
much effort and sacrifice. Progress is required because the task is incomplete,
and each generation must make sacrifices sufficient to guarantee a better world
for the next.46
Applying the Biblical Worldview in Our Culture
The larger culture appears to influence many churches more than scripture.
The apostle Paul had it correct as he was aware of the pressure for people to think in
nonbiblical terms. His words in Romans 12:1-2 are just as relevant to the church today as
they were for the church of his time.
Transformation is a long-term process of learning to think and live biblically.
This is not an instantaneous “experience.” It is not a result of momentary decisions but
the beginning of a process.
BARRIERS TO DEVELOPING A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
1. Many people are prevented from having a biblical worldview because it tends to
align with what most people think and do.
American values that the Bible opposes will not cause us to become biblical in our daily
lives.
2. The biblical worldview is hindered by doing the same thing in the same old way.
Many Christians grow spiritually for a few years until they become familiar with the
general storyline in the Bible and a lifestyle that is superficially “spiritual” looking.
3. Other Christians can often hinder us from living biblically.
We tend to live up to our peers' expectations. We will coast in our lives if they are
“coasting” in their spiritual lives.
Remember that most people never examine their own assumptions and
cultural norms. We must be proactive about looking at what the Bible
says and the assumptions that people around us are making. That’s when
you can begin to conform your thinking and actions to the Bible rather
than this world.
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4. Beware of those who want to overturn traditional judgments of value in the hope
of finding something more natural and solid on which to base our values.
In his essay “The Poison of Subjectivism,” C.S. Lewis prophetically talks about this
overthrow of the traditional judgment of values for a new scheme of values.47
Just in the past twenty years, we have seen seismic shifts within society on issues such as
marriage, sexuality, and the role of government. Such shifts are not isolated to secular
society; churches and denominations struggle with doctrinal purity while fighting off the
influences of relativism, individualism, and pluralism.48
This is not God’s ideal. Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt
5:20). The scribes and the Pharisees were the respectable people of Jesus’ day. In those
days, every parent wanted their child to grow up to be like the Pharisees. The Pharisees
in Jesus’ day were highly moral but “conformed to this age.” So also in our day, we can
be respectable people, better than most, and still be “conformed to this age.” Jesus calls
us to a different kind of righteousness, a radical kind of righteousness.
We expect to be given practical advice. We may expect to be inspired, lifted
emotionally, or sometimes merely entertained. Learn to approach the
preaching portion of a worship service expecting to learn something from the
Bible.
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HOW DO WE DEVELOP A WORLDVIEW FOR OUR CULTURE TODAY?
We can all slip into being content with respectability rather than living radically
for Christ.
A biblical worldview does not come by accident. It requires intentionality.
A Biblical Worldview Will Come By….
1. Exposure to the Bible.
We need more exposure and deeper exposure to God’s word.
2. Attending to the teaching of the Bible.
We must improve our biblical skills through regularly listening to sound
biblical preaching.
3. Exposure to people who have studied it.
Meditating on God’s word, not merely reading, is the goal that the Bible
itself commands. (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 77:12; 119:48, 97, 99) One way to do
this is to meditate after others who have given it deeper thought than we
have.
Note: I have found that just reading the Bible alone is not enough to shape and
transform our worldview. This is the great value of the four worldview
questions (Who are We? Where are We? What is Wrong? And What is the
Answer?) They can and should be a part of your daily reading and meditating
on God’s word.
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Changing Your Worldview
The Bible tells you what your worldview should be; as you read its stories, see how various
people in the Bible lived out the biblical worldview (or did not).
Ask yourself the four worldview questions. Focus on how you live and
make decisions in your daily life based on the four questions.
Examine the assumptions you have made about how things work. (you
may discover that there are some profound differences between the
biblical worldview as seen in scripture and the assumptions you make
every day)
As you re-read scripture, discover if there are unbiblical ideas you have
assumed are valid.
Be honest with yourself and admit where you fall short of a biblical
perspective.49
Half the battle is won once you know where your worldview needs to be changed.
Remember that the spirit of God is at work in you and will motivate you to align your
thinking with the Biblical perspective.
Session 1 Talkback Questions
Section 1: The Mission of Living Out a Biblical Worldview
Goal: to understand how to live out our biblical worldview in the culture in which we live.
Developing a Biblical Worldview
In The Christian View of God and the World, James Orr maintains a definite Christian view
of things, which has character, coherence, and unity and sharply contrasts counter
theories and speculations. A Christian worldview has the stamp of reason and reality and can
stand the test of history and experience.50
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Use the template below to formulate a biblical Christian worldview as a group. Who
are we? What is the origin of life? How did we get here?
What has gone wrong with the world? What
solution can you offer?
As a group, please take the following biblical examples to develop a biblical worldview
according to their perspective.
1. How would Noah have answered the four worldview questions while building the
ark?
2. How would Moses have answered the four worldview questions while standing
by the Red Sea?
3. How would David have answered the four worldview questions when
encountering Goliath?
Group Collaborative Exercise
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the session on bringing the mission
of reason to incorporate into your daily lives this week. (Next week, your group will
gauge the effectiveness of your action step.)
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Section 2 The Mission is to Develop a Transformed and Renewed Mind.
Key Scripture: Matthew 22:36-37; Romans 12:2.
Goal: is to understand our mission to develop a mature Christian Mind for a post-
Christian culture.
A. How do we love God with all our minds?
1. We fight the battle against the empty self.
The empty self is individualistic.
The empty self is infantile.
The empty self is narcissistic.
The empty self is passive.
2. Two thieves of the Christian mind.
The thief of inferiority and pride.
The thief of Keeping a sense of control.
B. How do we form the proper habits of the mind?
1. Reimagining Virtues and the good life.
2. The importance of sound principles of Reason and Logic.
3. Evangelism and Apologetics.
The Mission is to Develop a Transformed and Renewed Mind.
How do we love God with all our minds?
In Moreland’s book Love God with All Your Mind, He contends that what hinders
spiritual growth is "the empty self." According to Moreland, the empty self is constituted
by its own set of values, motives, and habits of thought, feeling, and behavior that
perverts and eliminates the life of the mind and makes maturation in the way of Christ
extremely difficult. We must fight the battle against the empty self.
In modern American culture, what psychologists call the empty self has emerged
enormously.
Individualism is an approach to decision-making that presumes benefits for an
individual person should be given higher priority than benefits for a wider group. In
other words, individualism says the needs of each person outweigh the needs of the
larger culture or group.
It is no secret that adolescent personality traits stay with people longer today
than in earlier generations, sometimes manifesting into the early thirties.
Therefore, creating a culture filled with pop psychology, schools and media
that usurp authority, and television ads that seem to treat everyone like a
teenager, the infantile part of the self needs instant gratification, comfort, and
soothing.
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The empty self is constituted by a set of values, motives, and habits of thought, feeling,
and behavior that distort and eliminate the life of the mind. It makes becoming a mature
Christian extremely difficult. Several empty selves inhibit our spiritual growth.51
1. The empty self is helplessly individualistic.
A healthy form of individualism is a good thing. Unfortunately, we all know people who
fail to draw appropriate boundaries.
Scripture does remind us that we all have a moral obligation to consider others more
significant than ourselves. (Philippians 2:3-4)
People who do not healthily separate the individual from others do not think and
feel for themselves. They are easily manipulated and are far more concerned
about what other people think of them.
A person with a healthy individualism learns to avoid these problems by mutually
depending on and relating to members of the body of Christ.
According to Moreland, these kinds of individuals produce strong selves who have
the power to practice self-denial to enrich the broader group (for example, family,
church) of which they are a part.52
2. The empty self is infantile.
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The infantile person is filled with infantile cravings that constantly seek to be
filled up.
What happens when we have delayed doctrinal adolescence in the church? In the Epistle
of Hebrews, we read somewhat shocking words:
For though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach
you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid
food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness
since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their
powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from
evil.
Hebrews 5:12-14
The writer reminds his readers that they are not doing what they should. They are not
growing a doctrinal mind as they should. They should grow deeper in understanding and
applying the truth with wisdom and discernment.
According to Erik Raymond, Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Boston and
Gospel Coalition contributor:
“Instead of serving up gospel meals each week, establishing a culture where
Christians (men in particular) are expected to work to grow, and facilitating
ministry to utilize gospel growth, pastors are burping spiritual babies and
continuing to feed them pears and soft crackers.”53
Why do pastors do this? We hear some version of the following:
Doctrine is difficult for people to understand. Unbelievers cannot understand profound
theology, and we want to win them to Jesus, so I must work within my context.
Our job is to execute the game
plan from all-wise God.
Returning to the Bible, we see little opportunity to be creative with the game plan. (1
Tim. 4:16)
3. The empty self is narcissistic.
Narcissism is an excessive and exclusive sense of self-inflation in which the individual is
The Christian narcissist brings a Copernican revolution to the Christian faith.
Historically, the Copernican revolution dethroned the earth from the center of
the universe and put the sun in its place. Spiritually, the narcissist dethrones
God and His purposes in human history from the center of religious life and
replaces them with his or her own personal fulfillment.
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preoccupied with self-interest and personal fulfillment. Narcissists manipulate
relationships with others, including God, to validate their self-esteem and ego.
For the Christian narcissist, God becomes another tool in his bag of tricks, like his
car, workout, fitness center, and so on.
The church is the perfect place for the narcissist since we all tend to hide behind spiritual
masks.
Pride is why people do not feel they need a savior or forgiveness. Pride tells them they
are “good” people or have a “good” heart. Pride also blinds people to their responsibility
and accountability for sin.
Narcissism masks sin while the gospel reveals the truth that leads to remorse for
sin.
Narcissist traits can be dangerous because, at their worst, they can lead a person to
destroy others to satisfy their desires. (2 Timothy 3:2-8)
All people are narcissists until they either learn how to cover it up and get along
in the world or until they recognize their flesh and repent.
The believer is empowered to begin loving others as they love themselves. (Mark 12:31)
A new apologist must remove the mask and embrace the truth.
4. The empty self is passive.
The lazy person is the role model for the empty self, and modern Americans are
unquestionably becoming increasingly passive in their approach to life.54
The passive self lets others do our living and thinking for us.
The pastor studies the Bible for us, the news media does our political thinking, and
we let our favorite sports team exercise, struggle, and win for us.
What is the primary contributing factor to the passive self?
Studies indicate that television is the number one culprit of the passive self. Elementary
For example, many people approach the abortion debate not based on a thoughtful
analysis of the relevant arguments, but from an infantile craving to seek
promiscuous sexual soothing of the empty, free self from any responsibility or
consequences.
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school children watch an average of twenty-five hours of television per week, and high
schoolers spend six times as many hours watching television as they invest in doing
homework.55
Passive people do not have lives of their own, so they live vicariously through the
lives of others.
The very idea of a Christian celebrity is an oxymoron. However, for the spiritually
passive individual, it is a support system.
The empty Self is a Danger to Society and the Church
A society filled with empty selves is a morally bankrupt, intellectually shallow society.
The empty self is the enemy of the Christian mind and its cultivation.
Think about what a whole church filled with empty self would look like.
Casting Out the Empty Self
1. Choose to be different.
We must admit the times we have allowed culture to squeeze us into its mold. We must
stand against culture (including inappropriate tendencies in the evangelical subculture),
resist the empty self, and acknowledge the intellectual anemia that goes along with it.
Get into discussions with people with whom you differ.
Spend time with people who do not simply reinforce your ways of looking at
things.
2 Advantages of choosing to be different.
1) We can learn from our Critics.
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2) Such exposure can make us realize how serious the war of ideas is and how
inadequately prepared we are to engage in the discussion.56
2. Change your routine.
Spend a week recording your daily routine—record when your energy is at its lowest
point and when it is at its highest. Many times, when we get home from work, our energy
is at its lowest point, so we go into passive mode and mindlessly watch TV.
What about exercise? It is a proven fact that regular exercise helps boost our mental and
intellectual processes. The important thing is for us to get out of our passive ruts,
especially those that make us lazy. Replace old habits with new ones, and create energy
to read, reflect, and be more proactive.
3. Develop patience and endurance.
A life of intellectual cultivation takes work.
The mind is like a muscle and must continually be stretched beyond itself. I often read
books a little over my head to develop my intellectual strength.
The intellectual life is both a means to and a result of a life of discipline, self-control, and
endurance.
4. Set some intellectual goals.
It is essential to set study goals every year. I suggest teaming up with someone in your
church who shares your interests and committing to a mutual accountability reading
program.
Check with your pastor or someone who you know is routinely stretching their
intellectual mind and find out what they are reading. Consider subscribing to Christian
publications like Christianity Today or Table Talk Magazine.
Two Thieves of the Christian Mind
The empty self, in general, is the enemy of the Christian mind, but two specific thieves
rob people of the fruitfulness that is part of a mature Christian mind.
Thief #1: inferiority and pride
We need to allow people to make inadequately thought-out points to each other.
Creating the expectation that we can learn to debate, critique, or defend ideas and
still leave with more work to be done on the subject. All of this has an end goal of
learning and reasoning and reaching the truth of what we are studying together.
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Intellectual embarrassment is one of the worst forms of humiliation. No one
wants to feel stupid or uninformed.
In my experience, most adults have a deep sense of insecurity about their mental abilities.
This causes individuals to put up the barrier of defensiveness, leading to a false sense of
pride to protect one from embarrassment.
According to Moreland, this may seem threatening at first; however, over time, it
will produce a church filled with people who are more secure in what they believe
and why.57 This is the pathway to faithful discipleship in the church.
Another form of inferiority comes from the simple fact that we are evangelicals.
For some time now, culture has told us that conservative Christians are intellectually
inferior, suggesting that the Christian faith is irrational and ridiculous. This is precisely
why we should know and celebrate our present and past Christian thinkers. We need to
know who they are and the courageous witness they have given for the church to follow.
Thief #2: Keeping a Sense of Control.
There is a genuine fear of losing control if we encourage people to let the mind of reason
lead them to faith in Christ.
Should we tell people to set their minds aside totally and accept Christianity without
using their intelligence?58
It can be risky to encourage people to develop a mind that allows reason to help
them discern what they believe and why.
We must commit to truth and the right reason.
The placebo of the misinformed mind:
It is like a placebo, which is an innocuous substance that really does not do
anything to help an illness. However, the patients’ false belief in its ability to heal
them inserts a false belief on the part of the patient. Much like the placebo in
medicine, many people have a worldview – placebo–false, naïve, misinformed
beliefs that allow them to live in a fantasy world of their own making.
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Roger Trigg notes: “Any commitment, it seems, depends on two distinct
elements. It presupposes certain beliefs [to be true] and involves a personal
dedication to its implied action.”59
What happens when we abandon a commitment to truth and reason?
If our foundational Christianity is not based on what is proper and reasonable,
then we are in danger of treating faith as a self-serving and pragmatic kind of
faith.
Note: The problem happens when we are more concerned with the practical application
of scripture without having a good reason that we have correctly interpreted it.
Pragmatism has roots in Darwinism and secular humanism. It is inherently relativistic,
rejecting the notion of absolute right and wrong, good and evil, truth and error.
Pragmatism ultimately defines truth as valuable, meaningful, and helpful. Ideas that don't
seem workable or relevant are rejected as false.
Life is a struggle: When struggles come, and they will, we all want to know if there is
something tangible on which we base our lives. What does God believe about the things
that matter the most? Is there any purpose to life, and if so, what is it?
A life that is well lived is based on truth, not placebos.
How do we Form Proper Habits of the Mind?
1. Reimagining virtues and the good
life.
Forming habits of the mind must become a lifestyle.
“If after careful investigation we find that a certain doctrinal belief was false, we
must have the intellectual maturity to abandon this belief in favor of truth.”
Unfortunately, we are under the false impression that believing something with
less than absolute certainty means we do not really believe. However, if you
believe something, you must have slightly more certainty that it is true than it is
false, allowing your certainty about the belief to grow.
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Learning to develop a Christian mind means that we must be present in the world in
which we live.
How a person spends time learning will affect what that person sees, hears, thinks, and
behaves.
According to Moreland: “You must want to be a certain person badly enough that
you are willing to pay the price of ordering your lifestyle appropriately.”60
A virtue is a skill or habit that creates a disposition to act, feel, or think a certain way (it
becomes ingrained into my personality and becomes a part of my very nature).
Virtue #1: Seeking Honesty and Wisdom
The mature Christian mind must be committed to seeking the truth, even if that truth is
not what one wants to hear.
The more we are dedicated to living out what we already know, the better we will be at
learning more.61
Virtue #2: Contains Faith (trust) and Hope
An anxious, depressed, and distracted person is not beneficial to healthy
intellectual growth.
A confident mind is free to follow the truth wherever it leads.
(Christians should be some of the most confident people in the world)
Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything….”
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Virtue #3: Involves humility with open- mindedness.
John Stott once said, “Pride is our greatest enemy, and humility is our Greatest Friend.”62
We must be willing to seek truth in a spirit of humility, admitting our finite state
and learning from our critics.
The hardest thing in apologetics is intellectual humility and open-mindedness to find
common ground with our critics without creating a skeptical mind.
What do you do when your view is criticized and ridiculed?
1) Assume that your critic brings at least some good points to the table and identifies
them.
2) Try to state on paper how you would argue against the view in an intellectual, not
emotionally charged way.
The Importance of Sound Logic and Reason
Why Logic is Essential to Effective Apologetics?
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to
assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order, and hatred for
every kind of imposture. —Francis Bacon, philosopher63
We must never forget that our God is a God of truth, reason, and logic.
Arguments are either deductive or inductive.
In a deductive argument, the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. In an
inductive argument, the premises do not guarantee the truth of the conclusion but merely
provide support or ground for it.
INDUCTIVE: Induction involves piecing together little facts that we already know to
try to construct a larger picture of reality that we don’t already know. It’s like beginning
with
a few puzzle pieces and imagining how the rest of the puzzle might look.
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DEDUCTIVE: looks at a known big picture of reality and draws more minor
conclusions. It’s like starting with a puzzle already put together so we can look at little
pieces, knowing where they fit within the bigger picture.
*A sound argument is a deductive argument with a true premise, leading to a proper
conclusion
Deduction and the Bible:
Fortunately, someone knows how all the puzzle pieces fit together because He created
the puzzle and has given us the puzzle box, His word gives us the big picture of how it
all fits together.
A BRIEF UNDERSTANDING OF LOGIC
Syllogism: a form of deductive argument where the conclusion follows from the truth of
two (or more) premises. A deductive argument moves from the general to the specific
and opposes inductive arguments that move from the particular to the general.
Here is the Science argument used most often against Christianity: “I do not believe in
God because I can’t see him” can be written into a formal syllogism such as:
P1: I must see something to believe in it.
P2: I don’t see God.
Conclusion: Therefore, I don’t believe in God.
Once I ask enough questions about not believing in God, I can form the above syllogism.
“I don’t believe in God because I cannot see Him is an incomplete syllogism. Identifying
the logical problems in an argument makes it difficult to fill in the missing pieces. This
takes time and practice, but eventually, you can identify the unstated assumptions. Other
premises could be drawn, such as the following:
P1: It is not rational to believe in something that cannot be scientifically proven.
Inductive argument example: 1) 95% of the people who use the antibiotic get
well, 2) We are about to give John the antibiotic 3) Therefore, John is about to
get well. Premises 1 and 2 provide good support for the conclusion even though
the premises could be true and the conclusion false.
Deductive argument example: 1) All Dogs are Mammals. 2) All Cats are
Mammals. 3) Therefore, all dogs are cats, is incorrect because while it contains
true premises it has a false conclusion.
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P2: I am a rational person.
Conclusion 1: I will not believe in something that cannot be scientifically proven.
P4: There is no way to prove God scientifically.
Conclusion 2: I will not believe in God.
Ways We Might Respond
First, we can challenge the unbeliever regarding P1: “Why do you believe it is not
rational to believe in something that cannot be scientifically proven? What about things
that all rational people believe in, such as the laws of logic and human memory? What
about the limitations of science, such as arriving at wrong conclusions or its inability to
explain some things that happen in the natural world?”
Second, we can applaud the unbeliever's desire to be rational (P2) and point out that
Christianity is deeply concerned about being reasonable and basing its beliefs on
historical events.
Third, because of the problems with P1, we can show them that Conclusion 1 already
believes things that cannot be scientifically proven.
Fourth, P4 is not a problem since we have already established that we can know certain
things without proving them scientifically.
Fifth, now that we have challenged the premises of this argument, we can challenge the
unbeliever to reconsider their rejection of God.
Evangelism and Apologetics
Apologetics is the primary means through which the Christian mind expresses itself in
the task of evangelism.
Apologetics is a ministry designed to help unbelievers overcome intellectual
obstacles to conversion and believers remove doubts that hinder spiritual growth.
A life of study and intellectual growth enhances one’s effectiveness in personal
evangelism in several significant ways.
1) A well-developed mind can see the connection between what someone is saying
and other issues of which someone may be unaware.
2) If people see the connections, they can ask a well-placed question that naturally
leads to discussing broader worldview issues, including God and our relationship
with Him.
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3) The pressure is off a person because they now have the intellectual categories
necessary to make natural connections between Christianity and other topics.
Session 2 Talkback Questions
Key Scripture: Matthew 22:37-38 Romans 12:1-2
Goal: to understand our mission to develop a mature Christian mind for a post-Christian
culture.
How do we show that we love God with our minds?
When considering Romans 12:1-2 why is the mind such an essential part of the Christian
life?
What part does the mind have in forming a Christian?
We fight the battle against the empty self. Consider the four empty selves that J.P. Moreland
describes in his book Love Your God with All Your Mind. How can each of these hinder
loving God with all our minds? What are some ways you can battle against these
enemies of the mind?64
The empty self that is individualistic.
The empty self that is infantile.
The narcissistic empty self.
The empty self is passive.
There are two enemies (thieves) of the Christian mind. How have you seen the following two
adversaries hinder your spiritual growth as a disciple and apologist of Christ? How can
you use what you learned during this session to help combat these adversaries?
Thief #1: Inferiority and Pride.
Thief #2: Keeping a Sense of Self-Control.
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Section 3 The Mission is to Make Disciples Who Observe All His Commands.
Key Verse: Matthew 28:19-20
Goal: to understand our mission to make disciples who observe everything he has
commanded them in a post-Christian culture.
A.
We must see the difference between true and false discipleship.
1. A call to costly grace
2. A call to radical obedience
3. A call to the visible and invisible church
Jesus made it explicitly clear to those who followed Him that their
followership was not merely receiving an education or adhering to ethical
rules. To follow Jesus meant recognizing Him for who He was – the
incarnate son of God, the long-awaited Messiah. Such a followership meant
reorienting one’s life to conform to His heavenly kingdom.
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Making Disciples Who Observe all His Commands
One of the most significant critiques from the outside world of Christians today is that they
are hypocrites. The word hypocrite means “actor,” someone playing the part of being a
Christian but not following what they say they believe.
“At the most basic level, a disciple is a student, one who follows the teachings of a
master and spreads those same teachings.”
What is the difference between actual and false discipleship?
“If you hold to my teachings, you are my disciple. Then you will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
FALSE DISCIPLESHIP
1) The reluctant disciple of Christ is the one who follows on an impulse.
Tozer concludes that he is slightly suspicious of the person who is too easily converted— the
person who yields without counting the cost or sales resistance. He likes the person who
means business even though, at first, they may be standing up, looking you right in the
eye, saying, “I do not believe it, and I will not submit.” When that person becomes a
Christian, you have got something.”65
He is a flip-flopper who is easily pushed around and pushed out again.
This kind of person is on one minute and off the next. They quickly walk away without any
great concern.
He is a person who was just in the right frame of mind at the time.
This person found themselves in the right frame of mind at the time. Here is a man whose
mother died recently. The invitation song may be “Tell Mother I’ll Be There,” and he
comes forward weeping. People may think he is repentant but only thinks about his mother.
Christianity on impulse is not the answer to discipleship.
2) Personality-enamored disciple
This kind of disciple seemed to be Christian because of a cult following. They have been overwhelmed
Remember what was said of Jesus that he had no beauty that we should desire
Him (Isaiah 53:2). He must have been a plain looking Jewish boy, since Judas
had to kiss him for the soldiers arresting Him to know which one, He was.
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and charmed by prominent personalities.
3) Those who appear to be half–disciples.
These men and women have brought their lives partially under Christ's Lordship, but they
keep other areas outside His control.
In his book Discipleship, Tozer says: “I do not want to be cruel, but I must be honest: Jesus
Christ wants to be and must be Lord. He must be head of and Lord of all departments of
our lives.”66
4) Short-term
disciples.
These people always leave a way out. They never burn their bridges behind them and leave
their old lives entirely behind. They never reach that point of no return. I believe
Christians have reached authentic discipleship when they have reached the end of no
return.
5) Chameleon disciples.
These people can change color with their environment. Unfortunately, I have even found
some preachers like this in their ministry. They can talk the language of the crowd they
are with; we should be whatever we are, wherever we are. Christians should always be
Christians. We are not genuine Christians if we must wait for the right atmosphere to
engage in the practice of our faith.
6) Disciples with multiple loves.
These people have not given up their old loves. They want to take the cross in one hand and
the world in the other, walking the tightrope between heaven and hell. They hope, by
Years ago, a Christian brother asked me to distinguish between a disciple and
salvation. I returned the question with a question, “Can you become a Christian
without becoming a disciple? Remember, Jesus did not call us to make more
Christians; He called us to make more disciples. The idea that I could possibly
somehow come to the Lord of grace and have all my sins washed away in His
precious blood, have my name written in heaven, and have the Messiah working to
build my mansion in heaven yet, at the same time, raise hell on my way to heaven.
This should be an unconscionable impossibility. It cannot and is not found in the
Bible.
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the grace of God, to make one final leap over the portals from this world to the next
when the time comes.
In scripture, Balaam prayed in (Numbers 23:10) and said, “Let me die the death
of the righteous and let my last end be like his.” But then he went over to the side
of the sinners and fought against the righteous in the battle. When he died, what
kind of death do you think he died, the death of the righteous or the death of the
sinner?67
TRUE DISCIPLES
1) A true disciple has not taken an impulsive leap in the dark.
2) A true disciple is a person who has become a Christian after deep thought and
proper consideration.
3) A true disciple has let the word of God search their heart.
4) A true disciple has felt the sense of personal sin and the need to be released from
it.
5) A true disciple does not consider Christianity a part-time commitment.
6) A true disciple has reached the point in the Christian experience where there is no
turning
back.
A Call to Costly Grace
Bonhoeffer is one of the leading theologians throughout history who wrote about the
“confessing church.”
Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleships” arose in contrast to the “German Christians” attempt to
Nazify Europe during World War II. They sought to create a Reich church under a Reich
bishop sympathetic to the Nazi cause. During the time “Discipleship” was written,
Bonhoeffer was teaching seminarians in Finkenwald, a confessing church dedicated to
training seminary students. At the same time, Bonhoeffer was disturbed by many of the
issues arising under Nazism and the consequences for the future of the church. However,
his immediate concern was making true disciples of Christ.
What is Cheap Grace?
Costly grace is the hidden treasure in the field, for the sake of which people go and
sell with joy everything they have. It is the costly pearl, for whose price the
merchant sells all that he has; it is Christ’s sovereignty, for the sake of which you
tear out an eye if it causes you to stumble. It is the call of Jesus Christ which causes
disciples to leave his nets and follow him.
Costly grace is the gift that must be sought after, again, and again, the gift which
must be asked for, the door at which one must knock.
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Cheap Grace According to Bonhoeffer: “Cheap grace means grace sold on the
marketplace like cheap jacks, whereas the sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and
the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices.”68
Cheap grace means the justification of sin but not the sinner.
“Because grace alone does everything, everything can stay in its old way.” The world
remains the world, and we remain sinners, “even the best of lives.” In all things,
Christians should go the way of the world and not live a different life under grace than
they lived under sin.69
What is Costly Grace?
“Costly grace, according to Bonhoeffer, is costly because it calls us to follow
Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it
gives a man the only true life. It is costly. It condemns sin and grace because it
justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God his son's life.”
Costly grace is costly because it calls us to discipleship; it is grace because it
calls us to follow Jesus Christ.
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Luke 14:26: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciples.”
Jesus’s call to discipleship makes the disciples into a single individual.
Whether disciples want to or not, they must decide; each must decide alone. It is not their
own choice to desire to be single individuals. Instead, Christ makes everyone he calls
into an individual; each is called alone. Each must follow alone. Out of fear of aloneness,
human beings seek safety in the people and things around them.
As individuals, they should see nothing except him, who calls them.70
People called by Jesus learn that they had lived an illusion in their relationship to
the world.
A Call to Radical Discipleship
A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP IS A CALL TO NONCONFORMITY
God is calling people out from Himself and calling us to be different from everyone else.
“According to John Stott, the Church appears to have a double responsibility about the
world around us. On the one hand, we are to live, serve, and witness in the world. On the
other hand, we are to avoid being contaminated by the world.”71
ENEMIES OF NONCONFORMITY
1. The enemy of Pluralism affirms that every “ism” has its independent validity and
an equal right to our respect.
Note: It, therefore, rejects Christian claims to finite and uniqueness, condemning our
arrogance and our attempt to convert anybody and everybody to what it sees as mere
opinion.
2. The enemy of Materialism is a preoccupation with material things that can
smother our spiritual lives.
3. The enemy of Ethical
Relativism
is confused about whether absolutes are left.
Note: Relativism has permeated culture and even seeped into the church. There is no
realm in which relativism is more evident than in that of sexual ethics and the sexual
revolution that has taken place since the 1960s.
The question that perplexes all new followers of Christ is: What is Gods
purpose for His people? Granted we have been truly converted, what is next?
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A CALL TO RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP IS A CALL TO CHRISTLIKENESS
The Biblical Basis of Christlikeness
Romans 8:29: “Predestined to be conformed to the image of His son.”
Conformity to the image of God means to be like Jesus, and Christlikeness is God's
eternal predestined purpose.
2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all with unveiled faces contemplate [or reflect] the
Lord’s glory, are being transformed [or changed] into his image with ever-
increasing glory, which comes from the Lord which is the spirit.”
The perspective has now changed from the past to the present: from God's past
predestination to his present transformation.
1 John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has
not been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
We do not know precisely what this will be like, but we do know that we will be like
Christ. And there is no need for us to know anymore. We are content that we will be with
Christ and like Christ.
We are called to be Christlike in His incarnation.
Note: The incarnation was an altogether unique event that was never to be repeated.
However, we are all called to follow the example of His great humility as Paul writes in
Philippians 2:5-8 “having the same attitude and mind that Christ had …”
We are called to be Christlike in His service.
Note: just as Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the last supper, a job typically relegated
to a slave. So, we in our culture must relegate no task that is too menial or degrading to
undertake. (John 13:14-15)
We are called to be Christlike in His love.
Note: (Ephesians 5:2) “to live a life of love” is a command that all our behavior should be
characterized by love, but “gave himself” for us is an apparent reference to the cross. So,
Paul calls us to live like Christ in his death and love with a Calvary love.72
We are called to be Christlike in His Service
Note: (1 Peter 2:18) “We have been called to this, because Christ also suffered, leaving
us an example so that we may follow His steps.” This call to count the cost to follow
Christ in suffering unjustly becomes increasingly significant as we see persecution
Paul’s most common way of defining Christians is those who are “in
Christ.” Meaning not inside as when our clothes are in a wardrobe or when
tools are inside a chest, but as the branches are “in” the vine and our limbs
are “in” the body that is united to Christ.
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played out in culture today.
We are to be like Christ in His mission.
Note: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18); and
in commissioning, he said, “As the father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21).
The instruction given is that their mission in the world was to resemble Christ’s. In what
respect? The key words are “sent into the world.” That is, as Christ had to enter our
world, we are called to enter other people's world.
A CALL TO RADICAL CHRISTLIKENESS IS A CALL TO MATURITY
According to Stott, the church in China has grown at least one hundred-fold since the
middle of the twentieth century. “More Christians now worship God every Sunday in
China than all churches in Western Europe combined.”73
However, according to church leadership, it is not growing in depth. A leader in South
Africa affirms considerable numerical growth in the church. However, the church does
not have a firm biblical or theological grounding.
We are called to present
everyone mature in Christ.
Paul found his very calling on this earth to present people mature in Christ. This should
be our purpose and goal for the new kind of apologist.
What does it mean to be mature in Christ?
To be mature is to have a mature relationship with Christ in which we worship,
trust, love, and obey him.
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How do Christians become mature?
Consider the basic skeleton in vs. 28: “We proclaim Christ … so that we may present
everyone mature in Christ.” Logically, if Christian maturity is our maturity in our
relationship with Christ, the more precise our vision of Christ, the more convinced we
become that he is worthy of our complete commitment.
A Call to the Visible Church
From our perspective, the visible church consists of all those worldwide who profess
Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. But Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says
to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 7:21)
Not everyone visibly appearing to be grafted into the church belongs to God’s
redeemed people.
As the apostle Paul says, we should examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith.
(2 Cor. 13:5-7.
This distinction is important because it forces us to think carefully about how the church
does ministry.
Our aim is that the visible church would increasingly reflect the invisible church.
What should the church do to protect its purity and see false professors
transformed?
1) Preach Christ
If the gospel is necessary for the believer, how much more is it for the unbeliever?
2) Administer discipline.
The reality that the visible church is a mix of believers and unbelievers underscores the
necessity for church discipline to reclaim the wondering brothers and sisters and purge
the leaven that might infect the lump.
3) Anticipate glory.
While the presence of sin among God’s people is discouraging, this distinction injects
hope by affirming that there is more to the church than meets the eye.
It has been said that the church on earth is like a grand building whose beauty is
obscured by scaffolding. “While the scaffolding mars the view of the structure, it does so
only temporarily and for a great purpose: renovation. By the indwelling Holy Spirit, the
visible church has within her all the elements necessary for a splendid restoration soon to
be
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revealed (Rom. 8:23). Therefore, we have every reason to press on in ministry and to do
so with hopeful confidence that no amount of sin or setback can defeat God’s people.”74
Session 3 Talkback Questions
Key Verse: Matthew 28:19-20
Goal: to understand our mission to make disciples who observe everything he has
commanded them in a post-Christian culture. We must see the difference between
True and False Discipleship
A Call to Costly Grace
What is the difference between true and false discipleship?
Why do you think many of our discipleship models have failed today?
How would you respond to the following enemies of Radical Discipleship?
Pluralism
Materialism
Relativism
What does it look like for someone to be Christlike?
Why do you think we see fewer mature believers in our post-Christian world?
Why must we solidly understand the visible and invisible church in our post-Christian
culture today?
Group Collaborative Exercise
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the session on making disciples
who observe all that He commands us to incorporate into your daily lives this week.
(Your group will gauge the effectiveness of your action step next week.)
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Section 4 The Mission of Bringing Jesus to the Marketplace of Ideas.
Key Verse: Acts 17:19-34
Goal: to understand our mission to bring Jesus into the marketplace of ideas in a post-
Christian culture.
A. Understanding our Athens.
1. Understanding how to build bridges in apologetics.
2. Understanding how to go to our own Mars Hill
3. Understanding the art of persuasion
B. Lessons we learn from Paul’s visit to Athens.
1. What did Paul see?
2. What priorities did Paul adopt?
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Understanding our Athens
Paul was uniquely equipped to bring the good news to the Athenians. But what does our
own Athens look like today? We must understand our setting to communicate the good
news of Jesus effectively and relevantly.
Western Christians are becoming increasingly biblically illiterate and have no
idea what it looks like to think Christianly.
“We live in a society which is “amusing ourselves to death,” as Neil Postman once
wrote. We are caught up with entertainment and technology, and virtue and deep
thought are gradually being eclipsed.”75
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO BUILD BRIDGES IN APOLOGETICS
Paul used philosophical tools while setting his speech within a solid biblical framework.
In a post-Christian culture, quoting scripture as an authoritative holy book in
public settings can be counterproductive.
Note: A typical response is: “Well, I respect that you’re a Bible believer, but what about the
Qur’an or the Book of Mormon?” To say the Bible says it is appropriate in a Christian
setting, but this approach will often fail to connect outsiders to the church because they
do not accept Biblical authority.
We must build a cultural bridge to help reinforce the Christian message.
The philosophical Bridge
Note: Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-167) was perhaps one of the greatest of the apologists. He
was converted during the time of the Roman persecution against Christians as he was so
impressed by the courage and hope of the Christians facing death. He demonstrated this
by traveling to Rome, where he set up a school to teach Christians to dialogue with the
culture.
The scientific Bridge
Things such as the image of God in humans – including personhood,
consciousness, free will, spirituality and the longing for transcendence, deep
relationality, moral responsibility, and imagination – things that cannot be
eradicated by depersonalizing, reductionistic naturalism (denial of the supernatural
and existence of the natural world) or Eastern Worldviews.
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In the twentieth century, scientists discovered that the universe of physical time,
matter, energy, and space came into existence a finite time ago.
Scientists have seen that the universe is astonishingly finely tuned for life.
We live in an era where even naturalist scientists are baffled by how
consciousness could emerge from nonconscious matter.
“Many naturalistic scientists accuse theists of believing in the “God of the gaps”: that
God plugs the holes of our ignorance – until science comes along and fills them in with
natural explanations of how things “really” work in the world. Yet the more we discover
about our amazing world, the more unlikely and unnatural these naturalistic explanations
appear.”
The historical Bridge
There are four historical facts that most historians widely accept:
1) Jesus’s crucifixion under Pontius Pilate followed by his burial in Joseph of
Arimathea’s tomb.
2) Friends and foes alike recognized the empty tomb.
3) The post-death appearances to the disciples (whether these were hallucinations
not being an issue at this point).
4) The sudden emergence of the early church, proclaiming the risen Christ in the
heart of Jerusalem.
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO GO TO OUR OWN MARS HILL
1) We must distinguish between the person and their beliefs.
Paul was very measured, respectful, and gracious as he addressed them. One
lesson we can learn from Paul is that he can distinguish between the person made
in the image of God and the beliefs they hold. In our day, in true-for-you-but-not-
true-for-me relativism, many assume that if you do not accept their beliefs, you do
not accept them. Because all humans are created in the image of God, we can
accept and befriend those whose beliefs are different from our own.76
2) We must be able to describe the unknown God.
Because many people in our Western culture grow up exposed to the Christian
faith to some degree, they will affirm that “something out there” accounts for the
universe’s existence and design. But they seem content with the detached deism
.
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that makes no personal demands on them. What if there is some unknown God
who could be found if only we reached out and searched for him? Maybe the
unknown God whose presence can be detected in the universe’s beginning, the
vastness of energy and fine-tuning, and in our moral awareness – has done
something more. Paul’s aim in Athens was to point to Christ as the unknown
God’s agent in the world to restore order, offer forgiveness if we repent, and give
us hope beyond the grave.77
3) We must be able to utilize indicators or signals of the transcendent.
Not only do intellectual and theological arguments matter, but so do specific
practical considerations such as deep human needs and longings. The human
quest for security and significance, the fear of death and the longing for
immortality, the longing for justice, and the sense of awe and wonder.78
UNDERSTANDING THE ART OF PERSUASION
Perhaps one of our most challenging jobs as apologists and evangelists is to persuade
others to follow Jesus Christ. We remember Paul’s appeal before King Agrippa in Acts
26:28, where Agrippa responds to Paul’s defense, saying, “In a short time, would you
persuade me to be a Christian.” By reviewing Paul’s context awareness, we can better
appreciate how Paul sought to persuade intellectually sophisticated Gentiles who likely
had little knowledge of the Jewish faith.
Paul’s Persuasive Approach
1) Using but not quoting scripture.
Even though Paul’s speech to the Areopagus does not contain any direct quotations from
the Old Testament, such as “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”
(Gen. 1:1) or “you shall have no other God’s before me” (Exodus 20:3). Paul’s speech is
fundamentally Biblical.
A crucial factor in Paul’s speech is that it uses Greek philosophical terms, but these
words are all used to convey biblical truths, not to affirm stoic ideologies.79
Outline of Paul’s approach to show its Logic.
Paul shows his awareness of the Athenians’ religious practice or piety. (Acts
17:22-23)
Paul observes Athens as an entry point into his challenge to their superstition or
misguided religiosity (Acts 17:23a).
Since God made the world, he clearly cannot be contained in one building,
especially one made with human hands. (Acts 17:25)
Since God made all people from one person and set seasons and boundaries for
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them, God is not distant (as the Epicureans claim) but is actively at work in
humanity. (Acts 17:26)
This would mean that God has a purpose for all humanity: to seek God. (Acts
17:27). This is not an intellectual pursuit only, as the Stoics would claim, but a
response to God revealing himself to his creation.
It is appropriate to acknowledge and seek the true God by whose power we live
and exist.
Since humans are God’s offspring and humans breathe, talk, walk, and act,
images that do not breathe, walk, speak, or act are not true representatives of God.
(Acts 17:29)
God has validated and chosen a person to carry out this judgment by raising him
from the dead. (Acts 17:31b) (in stark contrast to the Philosopher's God’s made of
stone)
2) Finding a culturally relevant starting point.
Paul attempts to gain the support of his audience.
Paul’s audiences range from those who are curious to those who are hostile
towards him. Paul does not begin his speech by telling the Athenians they are
stupid for having all these altars of false gods and goddesses. He does not start as
young pastor Mark did on the playground, that they are going to hell because of
their idolatry.
Paul indicates that he is educated and worthy of being heard.
By showing that he is competent to talk about metaphysics, Paul positions himself
to show that it is not he but his audience, who is ignorant regarding God's
identity, nature, and actions toward humans.
Paul builds on his compliment to the Athenians.
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“For while I was going through Athens and looking around carefully at your objects
of worship, I came across an altar that had written, ‘to an unknown God.’ The
Athenians would have recognized this as a true statement and hopefully felt more
positive towards Paul, that he was interested in something they valued.
Paul could have started with a straightforward gospel presentation: “Jesus of
Nazareth, a man approved by God, came to earth and died for your sins.” If Paul
had done this, he would have assumed that his audience knew far more than they
did about Judaism, Jesus, and Scripture.
Much of the time, some pre-evangelism is needed to build a bridge with our audience.
LESSONS WE LEARN FROM PAUL’S VISIT TO ATHENS
What did Paul See?
1) Paul saw a pluralistic society that needed to be introduced to a new narrative.
He faced massive biblical illiteracy.
This is not unlike the culture we face today. We live in one of the most biblically
illiterate cultures our world has ever known. What do you see when you look at
your city and your community? Do you see it as primarily dominated by people
who have a biblical worldview, people who possess the same knowledge that you
do about the Bible? Once Paul left the synagogue, he was in a different place of
expertise.
He faced alien worldviews.
It was not that the people were not religious; they had a different understanding and
philosophical system about how the world worked and what their place was
within the world.
2) What priorities did Paul adopt?
Paul prioritizes preaching to those with a shared heritage first.
Notice that Paul first reasons with those in the synagogue, with Jews who know
scripture. Paul recognized logical salvation as a historical primacy first among the
Jews. While strategizing how to evangelize a post-Christian culture, we should
first look closer to home.
Paul adopts the urgency of preaching to those with an alien heritage.
Rather than discount or disregard Paul’s approach to an alien culture. We should seek
to build bridges in our own alien culture to build bridges to God’s special revelation
and the climatic outworking of his purposes in history. It is now up to you to help
connect modern-day Athenians to the gospel’s good news and to uphold its credibility
in the marketplace of ideas.
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Not only do we preach on the soft turf, but we are called to go to difficult places to
preach. Where did Paul go to have that kind of contact? He went to the
marketplace. We can get so caught up in our religious world, in our Christian
world, that we do not have contact with this larger world that is so alien to the
gospel.
Session 4 Talkback questions
Key Verse: Acts 17:19-34
Goal: to understand our mission to bring Jesus into the marketplace of ideas in a post-
Christian culture.
Understanding our Athens
Why must we understand our Mars Hill before entering apologetics? What happens when we
fail to appreciate it?
Have you ever considered yourself a philosopher? If not, why not? What can we learn from
Paul’s example with the philosophers of Athens?
What part does the art of persuasion play in sharing our faith? What key things can we learn
from Paul’s use of influence in apologetics? What are some of the most persuasive
arguments you have used or seen effective in apologetics?
Consider your current environment and fill in the following observations based on how Paul
approached his visit to Athens.
What do you see?
Where should you go?
How should you speak?
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Group Collaborative Exercise
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the session on bringing the
mission into the marketplace to incorporate into your daily lives this week. ( Your group
will gauge the effectiveness of your action step next week.)
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Book 3 Practical Apologetics for Everyday Life
Section 1 The mission to give a defense.
Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:15
Goal: To understand and employ our mission, always to be ready to give a defense in a
post-Christian culture.
A. Are you asking the right questions?
1. What does this person believe?
2. Why does this person believe what they believe?
3. Where do we agree?
4. Based on this knowledge, how should I respond?
B. Servant Apologetics
1. Listening
2. Giving
3. Growing
C. Relational Apologetics
1. Who you are.
2. What you do.
3. What you know.
I serve as a mentor at Mighty Oaks, a Christian-based program for veterans and
first responders. Recently, a gentleman who had served as a marine sniper and
recently as an L.A. police officer came through the program. He had seen his
share of horrific death and suffering. His first statement was, “There is no God. If
there were a God, then all the immense suffering in the world would not exist.”
For him, the grief he had experienced was so overwhelming that it indicated that
God could not exist. I gave him a straightforward response and stopped the
conversation (at least for a while). My statement was, “What makes you think
God is responsible for such things?” Peter is writing to a group of suffering
people in 1 Peter 3:15. The statement I made is a kind of defense; the statement
was intended to get this individual to think of the destructive power of sin.
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Section
1
The
Mission
to
Give
a
Defense
A. Are you asking the right questions?
In his article, “How can I be Ready to Defend my Faith,” Scott Oliphint states the following:
“The Christian perspective on suffering is in diametrical opposition to the world's
view, which is unsurprising. There is an antithesis between Christian and non-
Christian; as we said, one is either in Christ or Adam. That antithesis is not
merely theoretical. It applies to the way we think, the way we act, and the
way we view the world. Amid his readers’ suffering, Peter gives this
command: “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to
make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that
is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15, NASB).80
The process of apologetics requires us to determine what the person believes, why they
believe what they think, and, based on the information we have been given, how one
should respond.
1. What does the person believe?
The art of discovering the starting point in apologetics.
One starting point deployed in apologetics is built on a person's assumptions.
What does a person assume to be true about God and the Bible? This is called
presuppositional apologetics.
For example, is it that the student at Mighty Oaks truly does not believe in the
existence of God, or has his life experience taught him not to trust in the God
of the bible because of his life experience? Therefore, a starting point might
be that if he believes in the evil he has seen in the world, where does his
opposite idea of what is truly good exist?
For example, the student at Mighty Oaks drew a starting point that the fact that
he recognizes inherent evil in the world should lead to the acknowledgment
that there must be evidence of a good being in the world. The evidential
apologist would begin to draw arguments based on the empirical evidence for
the existence of the God of the Bible.
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Another apologetic method used to determine what a person believes begins with
discovering where one shows evidence for God’s existence and then shows
evidence for the Bible’s reliability. This is called classicalism or classical
apologetics.
Finally, where does one show evidence for God’s existence by showing evidence
for the Bible's reliability, known as evidential apologetics? This is a defense
based on evidence.
Each of these avenues to discovering a starting point for what one believes has some
validity. I think the assumption of what a person believes about God and the Bible must
be ascertained before one engages with the evidence of their belief.
For example, Paul began his defense in the Areopagus by stating that he “perceived that
they were a very religious people.”
Alvin Plantinga’s model of establishing a starting point in apologetics works better than
the traditional models.
Plantinga’s apologetic model states the following:
The development of this argument took several significant turns. One central
element is the so-called “evidential objection to belief in God,” arguing that
belief in God is irrational or somehow rationally substandard unless
For example, the beliefs that the student at Mighty Oaks brought to the
conversation rests on his assumption that due to the suffering and death he
had seen and experienced, there could not be a God. If there were a God why
would such things be allowed to happen?
2. Why do they believe what they believe?
For example, with the student at Mighty Oaks, I established a starting point
for an agreed-upon existence of evil in the world. The bridge can then be
established to the cause of such evil in the world, i.e. sin leading to death.
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accompanied by acceptable evidence and cannot support its claims. Thus,
instead of meeting the evidential objection with more—and hopefully more
convincing—evidence, Plantinga argues that belief in God, like other beliefs
we hold, does not necessarily need such evidence to be rationally held.81
The importance of identifying a shared starting point.
Paul’s engagement with the Greek philosophers at Mars Hill began with a speech to
the Athenians, a shared starting point of their worship of the unknown God and
building a bridge from their accepted beliefs to Jesus and the gospel.
The main weakness in apologetics today is the misuse of apologetics arguments as a
defense mechanism or a weapon. If a person is an argumentative person by nature, they
may use apologetics. It is then used as a weapon of attack to make a person look bad.
There is a difference between making an argument and being argumentative. There is a
clear difference between contending for the faith (Jude 1:3) and engaging in foolish,
ignorant controversies that result in quarrels. (2 Timothy 2:22-23)
The strength of apologetics is growing maturity in one's faith, leading to discovering how
to serve the needs of others over our own.
The key to practical apologetics is the ability to listen to the person right in front
of you.
Several years ago, my wife and I were invited into the home of a couple who
had grown up in the Mormon church to discuss the difference between
Mormonism and Christianity. In our discussion, I quickly realized that my
knowledge of their faith structure would not persuade them to convert to
Christianity. Therefore, instead of telling them what I thought they believed, I
asked two questions: who is Jesus to you? And what is Jesus’ purpose? I
directed my conversation towards what they believed about Jesus.
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I have found that people are all at different stages in their beliefs. Sometimes, a person
has studied extensively about their beliefs, and other times, they barely know what they
believe.
Listening helps us guard against stereotypes about one's beliefs.
We might assume something a person does not know or does not believe. We must ask
questions about an individual’s beliefs to understand them as they do.
Listening is also vital in avoiding creating straw men of other views.
A strawman is a weaker version of a person’s argument. When we do this, we are not
holding ourselves accountable to the truth. We should always delight in the truth, even
the truthful representation of others' beliefs.
Our job as apologists is to help others discover the truth about why they believe
in a particular worldview.
As a part of loving people well, we should embrace the job of helping them uncover why
they see the world the way they do. In my experience, very few people have ever
engaged in this kind of thinking.
In asking people questions, we help them determine whether their view of the
world could be more coherent or consistent.
3. How should we respond?
Everyone has a gospel story, their version of salvation. Gospel stories offer a version of
the good news. In other words, there are secular gospels as well as religious gospels.
In their book Everyday Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis conclude that we can use
creation, fall, redemption, and consummation as points of intersection with people’s and
the gospel stories.
Creation: My identity
Fall: My problem.
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Redemption: My solution
Consummation: My hope82
In Genesis 3, God’s word gets reinterpreted by the Serpent in the following way.
Creation: You are meant to be gods.
Fall: You are held back by God and his insecurities.
Redemption: You can be set free by disobeying
God.
Consummation: You will be gods.83
Despite the following rejection of God’s word and rule, by God’s grace, the Bible’s story
becomes:
Creation: We are made in God’s image to reflect His Glory.
Fall: We have rebelled against God’s rule; our self-rule has led to
conflict, slavery, and judgment.
Redemption: God restores his rule by sending His Son and enabling us to
live under His authority by paying the price of our judgment on
the cross.
Consummation: God will recreate this broken world when Jesus returns.
Tim Keller says, “Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive Him, will fulfill you
completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally.”84
Questions to consider exposing people's gospel stories:
Creation: What do they assume the world should be like?
What kind of a person would they like to be?
What would have to be in place for them to feel happy?
Fall: How do they describe their struggles and battles?
What do they feel is their most pressing problem?
What do they feel they lack?
Who or what do they think is responsible?
Redemption: What do they think will make life better?
What provides a sense of escape and release?
Who or what will deliver their hopes?
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Consummation: What are their hopes? What is the long-term project to which they
are working? What dreams do they make sacrifices for? Have they
given up to the point of simply seeking to make it through the day?
Our response should embrace the plausibility structure.
Initially coined by sociologist Peter Berger, a plausibility structure is a set of ideas or
beliefs that an individual or group of individuals is or is not willing to consider plausible
or true. For many people, the belief in the divinity of Christ is implausible. So, our job is
to consider how we can help others see the reasonableness of faith in Jesus. One
approach is to begin with an idea generally regarded as plausible.85
The Power of Asking Questions
A good question is, what do you want at a conversational level?
You can then ask why. Why does it matter so much to you? This pushes beyond the
outcome that the person wants to the underlying idolatrous desires of their hearts. The
why question helps you move beyond surface idols (such as a new car) to identify “deep
idols” such as (respect).86
Questions
to
Ask
Yourself
What do they believe or not believe about God?
What do they want? What are their idolatrous desires?
How do these idolatrous desires control their lives?
B. Servant Apologetics
We need to stop trying to win arguments.
We need to work on humility in our apologetics.
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Over the years, I have found myself moving away from the competitive model of doing
apologetics. Servant apologetics puts the other's good as the primary focus of your
apologetics. Remember that Peter put at the end of 1 Peter 3:15 how our apologetics will
be deployed “with gentleness and respect.” Unfortunately, too many people see it as
winning an argument or ensuring our point is heard the loudest.
Our goal in apologetics is to help people become more convinced that the gospel
is true.
Human motivation is our tendency to turn inward and do what meets our needs, even in
our ministry of apologetics, which contrasts the biblical model of servant apologetics.
3 Key aspects of servant apologetics
1. The aspect of listening in apologetics.
Communication can either be speaker-centered or audience-centered.
Speaker-centered: Starts with the communicator and what he thinks is essential.
Audience-Centered: Communication starts with what the audience is dealing with, what
they are concerned with now, and what they need deep inside.87
We need to connect our current message with their current situation and concerns. That
requires an attitude of servanthood expressed in the act of listening.
2. The aspect of giving in apologetics.
We are not necessarily talking about financial giving. The giving we are speaking of in
Servant apologetics involves letting the light shine on others more than on yourself. The
servant apologist gives other opportunities, credit, and honor.
The Bible is woven with references to ways to bless others. We are blessed for a reason
and must pass that on to others.
Apologetics has a reputation problem. We are the ones who “like to argue.”
We are the ones with a need to win. We are the people who do not understand
people, though we claim to understand everything else.
We must count the slow progress, often evidenced by the recipient of our
apologetics willingness to return for ongoing conversation. “We want to hear
you again on this subject,” they told Paul on Mars Hill. According to Chris
Gadsden senior field research staff and founder of CRU, there are three reasons
why the servant model is more persuasive than the competitive.
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3. The Aspect of growing in apologetics.
It’s about properly using apologetics.
The art of a good apologist examines virtue, character development, and what it means to
fear the Lord as the beginning of wisdom. This is one way of examining what it means to
be caring and giving. It all comes from a heart constantly being molded by God's word
and the Holy Spirit's work.
We do not measure success in persuasion by conversions alone.
First, the servant model demonstrates a more significant character.
Second, the servant model fosters better communication.
Third, the servant model provides greater spiritual powe r. 88
C. Relational Apologetics
Relational apologetics is about your life becoming a defense of the Christian faith. Every
relationship you have is an opportunity to connect people to their creator as you display
your great hope, both in word and deed.89
Who you are.
We are apologists who seek holiness.
Holiness exposes the nature of hypocrisy.
To avoid hypocrisy, we should seek holiness daily, asking God to search our
hearts, petitioning Him for forgiveness, and embracing the power of repentance.
(1 Pet. 1:15)90
We are apologists who seek humility.
The servant model takes a stance of self-emptying, to serve and be of help to
others. There is little concern with one’s own reputation or status—only the
other’s welfare matters.
We need to get out of the gospel’s way. This means that we remove any
obstacles to the gospel, whether ourselves or some bad philosophy. We speak
the gospel and trust the Holy Spirit to guide minds and convict hearts.
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It should be a huge relief to realize that you do not have to know every answer to
every question a skeptic might ask.
Not only is it a relief for you to understand that “I don’t know” is an option, but
others will appreciate your honesty in admitting your lack of knowledge.
Admitting that you don’t have to know everything protects your credibility.
Humility disarms. It brings down the other person's defenses. When someone’s
guard is down, they are more likely to see through their emotions and consider
what you say.
We are apologists who seek to remain ready.
People will be compelled to ask why if you live differently. (Matt. 5:14)
A prepared heart regarding Jesus as holy and Lord will help develop a proper
attitude to defend your faith.
A prepared mind helps to provide reasons for what you believe (offensive
apologetics) and answer skeptical accusations (defensive apologetics). Most
Christians never think about why they feel; they believe.91
We are apologists who act with gentleness and respect.
Our primary responsibility is to allow the gospel to be seen; the power to save someone
rests in the gospel, not in us or our arguments.
Being gentle and respectful means giving people the truth they need to hear, not merely
the truth you want them to hear.
Note: We are often told that one conversation may be the only time someone hears the
gospel. That may be true, but when that burden becomes a pressure, it surfaces in
frustration and anger and works against the gospel. Often, skeptics need to hear the
gospel more than once before they are persuaded.92
What you do
We are apologists who learn to listen.
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Listening is a complex skill to develop. Few people are excellent listeners. Most people
like to talk more than listen because it allows them to sound smart, win arguments,
convince people they are correct, and be the center of attention.
Listening shows that we care and are not out to win an argument.
Listening is crucial because you need to understand the position of the person you are
speaking with.
THE LISTENING APOLOGIST
1). Focus on their words, not your response: you need to practice not thinking about
your response when someone else is talking.
2). Learn to ask questions: you can ask them to summarize what they have just said
back to them. I will say, “So let me make sure I understand you. You believe that …”
3). Write down their points: Recording people’s points of view on contention will
revolutionize your apologetic efforts. It keeps conversations calm and focused and gives
you time to think before you respond. You will find that many people have not
considered their beliefs; it isn’t only Christians who have not contemplated their religion.
We are apologists who learn to ask questions.
God asks questions. It is one of the first things we see Him doing in the Bible. When
Adam and Eve hid because they sinned, God asked, “Where are you?”
God's questions are intended to help us explain our actions, look inward at our motives,
and see our shortcomings. This is why Jesus asked so many questions.
Asking questions is one way to bypass the defenses that quickly arise in the conversation
of faith.
First, questions do not appear to be an attack.
Second questions move the burden of proof from you to them.
We are apologists who seek to stay on topic.
When you notice people starting to change the topic, you must bring them back to the
original issue. Be careful when chasing every topic that appears in front of you.
Redirecting is an invaluable skill in apologetics. You cannot let other people frame
discussions for you by bringing up unrelated topics to create your position for you, a
position that doesn’t even exist.
Reasons people change topics: 1). People may genuinely think two topics are somehow
related. 2). people often switch topics because they know they have been defeated.
People usually make something up or change the subject when posed with a question they
cannot answer.
All you need to do to stay on topic is to listen well, and, again, if at any
point you don’t understand how what said relates to what you were
originally talking about, ask. Remember this great truth: the one who makes
the claim bears the responsibility of supporting it.
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We are apologists who stick to what they know.
I have heard all kinds of arguments by well-meaning Christians to prove that Christianity
is the right religion. In a sincere attempt to defend their faith, everyday Christians
suddenly become experts and statisticians. I have never seen someone come to faith
because of how many stats I can give them on why they should believe or have a well-
crafted argument to show how much I know.
The problem is different from what we know but how we use what we know. It is good
to read books. Learning how the universe and its design indicate that God exists is good.
However, these knowledge bits often tend to inflate our sense of expertise.
Christians must only speak
from an expertise we possess.
The more you say in an argument, the more you must defend.
Because our nature is secured in God, our value remains constant. God is
constant, so our value is constant. Our value is in our nature, for which He
came to redeem. If we take people down this road, we will see humanity's
general sense of universal justice is to the gospel's advantage. Theism is the
only worldview that can justify our belief in an inherent human value and true
morality.
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Option #1 says, “I don’t know.” I don’t know. It is a far better response than saying
something that is wrong or cannot be supported.
Option #2, the better option, is to offer what you think and then commit to studying the
topic with the skeptic.
What you know
We are apologists who have truth on our side.
It would be best to have relativism when the truth is not on your side or you have no
power. When you cannot make people do what you think is right, a clever way to justify
your own “personal right” is to propagate the idea that everyone is right.
We are apologists who have a God who has made Himself known.
“Most people are not scholars. They are not academics and researchers who have
dedicated their lives to a single idea. Furthermore, most people's objections to God are
not intellectual; they are either emotional or volitional. It is not their mind but their
heart that rejects God.”
Our job as apologists is to help people uncover the truth they already know. (Romans
1:18-21)
1) Establish the possibility of God’s existence.
Do not try to prove God’s existence; you must open the door. Ask questions like,
“Why is there something rather than nothing.” Don’t argue with the person about the
validity of evolution. Instead, ask what there was in the beginning. Ask if the
universe has always existed or if it came from nothing.
2) Consider the way that God would make Himself known.
Once you have established the existence of God, the next step is to ask if miracles
would be possible.
3) Examine the way God has made
Himself known.
Because of this I have found it helpful to ask a skeptic what evidence would
cause them to believe in God? This question serves two purposes. First, it causes
them to be honest with you. From their answer you can deduce if they are
genuinely seeking the truth or just arguing with you. Second, their answer can
help you know what kind of evidence to present. The person may be at a point
where “facts” don’t matter leading you to take a soft and compassionate
approach, just talking about how Christ has changed your life.
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You could refer to many miracles; however, the most significant miracle we should focus
on is the resurrection. It shows that God exists, and that Christianity is the right
religion. Before I give any evidence for the resurrection, I must not be under any
delusion that offering evidence for the resurrection will seal the deal. First, seeing
only sometimes equals believing. Remember, some people in Jesus’s day saw
miracles but did not believe.
Many people do not even allow specific evidence into their courtroom because their
worldview will discredit it.
We are apologists who follow a religion that has a narrow road.
Loving and respecting people comes with accepting the risk of telling them they are
wrong. Imagine the chaos in a world where no one ever pointed out errors. Why
is Religious Pluralism so Popular?
First, religion in our current post-Christian culture is becoming a fantasy. We have an
entire generation of Christians growing up who know very little about their faith, much
less what makes it accurate.
Second, religious pluralism is growing because people have at least one of the following
assumptions about God. 1) He cannot be known. 2) He does not care how you live. 3) He
will not hold our ignorance of Him against us.
The Logical Fallacy: if all roads lead to heaven, then Christianity is wrong in its theology
and doctrine of salvation. If Christianity is valid in its doctrinal assumptions, how could
it be equally valid as a religious structure?
We are apologists who believe in the reliability of scripture.
The question is whether you must be able to prove to the skeptic that the Bible is inspired
and an inerrant word of God. Does a person have to believe in the Bible to be saved?
We are apologists who help remove the roadblock of evil and pain.
For Example, If someone appears to struggle with the reliability of the Bible due
to some perceived inconsistencies in the text. You might say something like this.
“You say you have a problem that the gospel writers seem to say something
different here, correct?” Would you also have a problem if the four gospels were
identical to each other?” The skeptic replies, well, yes, of course. That meant they
had all gotten together and fabricated the same story. So, you are angry because
there are differences, but you would be just as angry if they were all the same?
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I do not debate the inerrancy of scripture with a skeptic. This is not because I do not
believe it but because such debates should be handled among Christians. They are not
necessary for the battle over people's minds, hearts, and souls.
The Bible could be filled with mistakes, and we would still be assured of our salvation.
“What many people fail to understand when they refute the Bible is that they are
not merely refuting one book. They are refuting a collection of books written over
1,500 years by more than forty authors in six languages.”
The Big Picture: Most people have never studied the Bible or its reliability. They say that
they do not believe the Bible because it helps justify their rejection of God. But you can
use what they think about the Bible to expose the deeper issue of their unbelief.
The problem of evil and pain is a subject that requires excellent gentleness and sincerity.
“It is not good to tell someone that we are all bad people and deserve what we get.” You
must discern whether a person’s struggle is “emotional” or “Intellectual.”
1). The best place to start is by expressing genuine concern for a person’s pain. Don’t
belittle or dismiss a person's pain by thoughtless statements like, “Well, God moves in
mysterious ways.”
2). Don’t pretend to know the mind of God. I would not even tell a grieving person, well,
God has a plan. God’s plan isn’t essential to someone who is suffering.
When a skeptic tells you that they do not believe in the Bible, you should answer,
“so?” Ask what belief in God has to do with God’s existence. You could point
out that God could still be real even if the Bible is false. The fate of the Bible is
not related to the fate of God.
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3). The best thing you can do is offer comfort. Comfort leads to hope, which eventually
leads to an understanding of purpose. You do not know why some bad things happen; it
is better not to pretend you do.
We take comfort in knowing that God is a God who allows terrible things to happen to good
people. If this were not so, he never would have allowed Jesus, an innocent and good
man, to suffer and die on the cross.
Why? I may not understand why God does not prevent more pain on earth, but I know that
He has experienced the deepest pain. More importantly, His pain made the way for us to
be free from pain forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:13; Hebrews 4:15)
4). Argument against the idea that because God is supposed to be all good and all-
powerful, would He not want to be rid of all evil?
Two significant problems with this position
#1 The difference between choice and evil. Much of this world’s evil results from people’s
actions. If the world is rid of evil, it must also be rid of morally free creatures.
#2 The Problem with this argument is our ability to identify something as evil if God does
not exist.
Even though the problem of evil and pain is a severe issue, it is an issue that helps prove
God’s existence.
Table Talk Questions Session 1 Key
Verse: 1 Peter 3:15
Goal: To understand our mission and always be ready to give a defense in a post-
Christian culture.
Are you asking the right questions?
Participants will pair off for their table talkback time. The table leader will hand out new
religious identity cards to each project participant. Using the twelve core doctrines and
the scriptures you have learned. Role-play your new religious identity while the other
participant attempts to answer the following questions.
What does this person believe?
Why does this person believe?
Where do we agree?
Based on this knowledge, how should I respond?
What have been your greatest struggles with sharing your faith in the past?
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What did it take to persuade you to become a Christian?
Why is listening one of our greatest assets in giving a reasonable defense?
How does knowing that a person’s way seems right to him help us mount our defense for
Christ?
Respond to the following statement. “The most critical skill Christians need in today’s
argumentative culture will not be the ability to debate but the ability to recognize and
affirm God’s truth buried in the perspectives of our neighbors and friends.
1. What part does generosity play in our apologetics? What does it say about your
faith when you show generosity? What does it say when you do not?
2. What part does our motivation and enthusiasm in apologetics play in moving
others to our defense for our great hope in Christ Jesus?
3. What does it look like as Paul proclaims in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to “demolish
arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God?”
4. How can overloading someone with too much information be counterproductive
in our apologetics?
5. Why is focused prayer the most critical weapon in our apologetic arsenal? How
much time do you spend praying for opportunities to share the gospel? How often
do you pray for the lost around you every day?
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Section 2 The mission is to bring reason, conscience, and imagination to the world.
Goal: to understand our mission to bring reason, conscience, and imagination to a post-
Christian culture.
A. What is Cultural Apologetics?
1. Disenchantment of Society.
2. Re-enchantment of Society.
a. False Re-enchantment
B. Establishing the Christian Voice.
1. The Place of Reason in Cultural Apologetics.
a. Argument from Reason.
2. The Place of Conscience in Cultural Apologetics.
a. Argument from Morality.
In 1936, a man named Leslie Newbigin set out from England to India to share
Christ in the Hindu culture. Newbigin faithfully ministered in India for thirty-
eight years. When he returned home in 1979, he found that the world was vastly
different than the one he left. It had become an increasingly post-Christian
nation desperate for a missionary encounter. Newbigin wrote the following in
his book Foolishness to the Greeks:
“What would be involved in a missionary encounter between the gospel and this
whole way of thinking and living that we call, “modern Western culture.”
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What is Cultural Apologetics?
Newbigin is interested in how we can talk to others about Jesus in a way understood
by those becoming further removed from Christianity.
Newbigin understood that every person in every culture is shaped by what sociologist Pete
Berger calls the “Plausibility structure.”
How can we have genuine missionary encounters in our culture today?
CULTURAL APOLOGETICS MUST DEMONSTRATE NOT ONLY THE TRUTH OF
CHRISTIANITY BUT ALSO ITS DESIRABILITY.
Our Athens
1. How does our culture perceive the world?
In a word, we are disenchanted.
The view of the world presented in the Bible is sacred and beautiful, yet our culture
treats it as mundane, ordinary, and familiar.
2. What does our culture think?
In his book Cultural Apologetics, Paul Gould states that the collective mind of our
culture is essentially “anti-intellectual” and shallow, lacking the ability to think
deeply about things that matter the most.93
3. How does our culture live?
We are, for the most part, a hedonistic culture. We move from one desire to the next.
Consider the most common question most people ask who do not believe in
God. They pose the following challenge: “If God exists, then why doesn’t
he make himself more obvious? Why doesn’t He make himself known? If
there was any evidence for God, then I would believe.
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Disenchantment of Society
It is a mystery of how, in this world created, sustained, and loved by God, we fail to see
reality in its proper light. It is a tale of two perceptions, two ways of perceiving the
world.
2 Problems with the following challenge.
1. It wrongly assumes that there is no obvious evidence for God's existence.
2. It assumes that if the evidence for God were available, belief would automatically
follow.
God reveals himself because he wants us to flourish, and we will not begin to thrive until
our love for Him grows.
God does not force Himself on anyone. He desires genuine love; therefore, those who
think there is nothing outside themselves often miss evidence for His existence.94
-Blaise Pascal Observes
“Wishing to appear openly to those who seek him with all of their heart and
hidden from those who shun him with all their heart, he has qualified our
knowledge of him by giving signs which can be seen by those who seek him and
not by those who do not.”95
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Consider the religious leaders during the time of Jesus. They were eyewitnesses to his
miracles, able to talk with him and measure his claims and character against the plumb
line of the Torah and prophecies about the coming Messiah. Yet, they needed to see him
clearly and understand his mission.
What we find out in Scripture and life is that two people can see the same object
or event and see it differently.
What we see and understand depends somewhat on our perception of reality.
Re-enchantment of Society
Step #1 Suppressing the Truth About God
We fail to give him thanks for his provision (Romans 1:21). As Paul unpacks the first
chapter of his letter to the Romans, those who suppress the truth about God become
“futile” in their thinking, “darkened” in their hearts, and foolish idolaters.
When we fail to acknowledge God, it has catastrophic effects, corrupting our
perception of reality.
What comes into our minds when we consider God is the most important thing
about us?96
Step #2 Emptying the World
Today, the world is emptied of the divine and the sacred.
C.S. Lewis notes:
“At the outset, the universe appears packed with will, intelligence, life, and
positive qualities; every tree is a nymph, and every plant a god. Man, himself, is
akin to the gods. The advance of knowledge gradually empties this rich and grand
universe: first of its gods, then of its colors, smells, sounds, and tastes, finally of
solidity itself as solidity was originally imagined.”
We have rejected God's knowledge and plan for the universe. The world we know has
been emptied of value or goodness.
Step #3 Awakened Desires
Our natural desire for God has been explained in our natural desire for survival. This
works to some extent until the nature of our desires themselves is considered. The
problem is that our desires are intrinsically for things. We speak of having a desire for
God, for survival, or for happiness. The intrinsic feature of our desire is not for
something that is transcendent but something that exists in the natural world; this is
called naturalism.
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We must understand that once we have been reenchanted from the world, we can never
return to the way things were before our re-enchantment.
We can help others see Christianity as plausible and desirable. If we embrace a
faith that carries whiffs of transcendence, we entice and invite others to see Jesus
and the gospel as true and beautiful.
Disenchantment, the loss of transcendence, changes everything. While the heart desires
God, many are unaware of this deep longing.97
Awareness of God comes in degrees and can be clouded by repression, self-deception,
spiritual pride, and a host of other issues that prevent heart transparency.
One of the best ways to begin reawakening a person’s spiritual impulse is through
imagination.
Step #3 Returning to Reality
The apologists’ task of awakening longing has several starting points.
1. Ask those we seek to reach for Jesus, “What good do you long for?” Almost
inevitably, the answer is “to be happy.”
2. As cultural apologists, one way to awaken desire in others is to point out this
universal longing for happiness while admitting that it remains elusive.
We can point to the reality that this longing for happiness points to something we
have lost. The longing awakens us to the fact that our world isn’t how it ought to be
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and suggests a time when humanity was pleased, which is now only a distant
memory.
Re-enchantment is the Awakening of Desire
Christian’s ought to:
1) See and delight in the same way Jesus sees and delights, and 2) Invite others to see and
delight in the same way.
Our call is to be curators of culture, hoping that Christianity will be seen as plausible and
desirable.98
SEEING REALITY AS JESUS DOES
The path of return to God lies through creation itself.
The gospel's good news was that heaven and God are here, and he lovingly sustains and
cares for all he has done. Willard explains the following way:
“Jesus’s good news about the kingdom can be an effective guide for our lives only
if we share his view of the world in which we live. To his eyes, this is a God-
bathed and God-permeated world. It is a world filled with a glorious reality … It
is a world that is inconceivably beautiful and good because of God and because
God is always in it … Until our thoughts of God have formed every visible thing
and every event glorious with his presence, the word of Jesus has yet to be fully
seized.”99
Cultural apologetics involves creating spiritual perception and recognizing that creation
offers a glimpse of the divine.
INVITING OTHERS TO SEE REALITY AS JESUS DOES
Paul never missed an opportunity to proclaim the good news, inviting people to turn from
idolatry to a living God who made the heavens, earth, and everything in them. (Acts 14b
ESV) Paul points to the world and then argues that the living God is its creator.
Paul doesn’t point his listeners to human sinfulness and their need for forgiveness
(although that is an essential and significant part of understanding the gospel);
however, he draws their attention to all the excellent and delightful things God
gives to His creatures.
We invite people to see and delight in God's good gifts that abandon the old,
disenchanted ways of seeing the world in favor of a new way of seeing things.
False Re-enchantment #1
Secular humanism: a particular belief system capable of moral reality and self-
fulfillment apart from God. Humanism, as a belief system, relies on reason, logic, and
The 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” chronicles the adventure of three
friends who skip school for a day, the movie accurately captured the perspective I
once had as a young freshman in High School. My classes were boring and
uninspiring, and the adults built up to support and enforce my education
confining. Like Ferris, I desired to escape the established educational system for
greener pastures of self-expression and freedom.
Time and experience have completely transformed my perspective. Learning can
be uninspiring, and doing whatever you want may appear to be freedom for a
time. However, a cavalier attitude such as this is a recipe for disaster.
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naturalism instead of the belief in the supernatural.
False Re-enchantment #2
The argument for Virtual Realities: Virtual realities offer a promise similar to the
transcendent's. Popular video games allow people to create second selves, or avatars, to
live an alternative life in an imaginary universe.100
Ray Kurzwell suggests that:
“Up until now, our morality was tied to the longevity of our hardware … As we
cross the divide to insert ourselves into our computational technology, our
identity will be based on our evolving mind file. We will be software, not
hardware … As software, our morality will no longer depend on the survival of
the computing circuitry … Our immortality will be a matter of being sufficiently
careful to make frequent backups.”101
The promise of science is a new utopia where transformed humanity will live free of pain
and constraint, free to do and be whatever we wish.
False Re-enchantment #3
Neopaganism is another false re-enchantment: It provides the trappings of transcendence
while reconfiguring human desires, aspirations, and passions away from the sound,
accurate, and beautiful toward the evil, false, and horrific. In neopaganism, reality is not
entirely flat, nor is humanity completely buffered or protected from the supernatural.
Instead, humanity is vulnerable to unexplained powers, perhaps even gods and
goddesses, the paranormal, and the occult.102
This is played out in the frenzy of books, television series, and movies that elevate the
occult or paranormal. Recent examples include The Twilight Saga, Underworld, Grimm,
American Horror Story, Stranger Things, The Magicians, and Dr. Strange.
Establishing the Christian Voice
The place of reason in cultural apologetics.
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There is a spirit of anti-intellectualism in our culture today.
Studies have demonstrated that we are losing our minds. In his book The Shallows,
Nicholas Carr says, “Whether online or not, my mind now expects to take in information
the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once, I was a
scuba diver in the sea of worlds; now, I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.”103
What happens then is that we lose our ability to sustain linear thought. The calm,
focused, undistracted mind is being pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and
needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping bursts.104
Carr contends, "We have gone from cultivators of knowledge to being hunters and
gatherers in the electronic data forest.”105
Many have felt the outside pressure today to view Christianity as unreasonable.
.
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LOOKING FOR REASON
“Logic, according to Isaac Watts, is the art of using Reason well in our inquires of truth,
and then communicating it back to others.”106
As Francis Bacon has said, God has given us two books as sources of truth:
1. The book of God's works creation.
2. The book of God’s word, the Bible.
In Romans 12:2, Paul connects reason with the mind in spiritual transformation.
As good Christian apologists living in an age of disenchantment, one must answer a
pressing question: Does the Christian faith measure up to the standard of reason?
Meaning, is the Christian faith reasonable?
THE ARGUMENT FROM REASON TO GOD
Remember that naturalism is the view that there are no supernatural beings. All that
exists is the natural world; nothing is divine, sacred, or worthy of our worship. In a
nutshell, this is the basis of physics.
We can formulate an argument from the existence of reason (minds) to the existence of
God as follows:
1. The existence of minds is not surprising under theism.
2. The existence of minds is enormously surprising under naturalism.
3. Therefore, the existence of minds strongly supports theism over naturalism.107
The reality of mental causation (what are the causes of something) is enormously
challenging to reconcile with naturalism.
J.P. Moreland notes that if the universe is causally closed (i.e., there are only physical or
material causes), the “sequence of mental events running through a person’s
consciousness is like a series of causally impotent shadows.”108
STARTING POINTS
1. Consider the plausibility structure and sacred core of others, especially when
making a case for Jesus and the gospel.
2. Having an awareness of the sacred core of individuals and communities.
MAKING THE CASE
Sometimes, you must engage in false beliefs that hinder the gospel.
An argument is one or more statements (called premises) strung together to support
another statement (called the conclusion).
Remember that arguments are either inductive or deductive. A deductive argument says
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the conclusion must be inescapably proper if the premises are true. Inductive arguments
think that if the premises are true, the conclusion follows the premise but not
inescapably.
Note: I suggest that you practice formulating arguments or analyzing the arguments of
others to learn how to defend your premises and undercut the premises of others.
The Place of Conscience in Cultural Apologetics
1 Peter 2:12: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they
speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on “the
day of visitation.”
The church is seen by many as an intolerant and judgmental community. There are gaps
between appearance and reality. The gap between the Jesus we want and the Jesus we
need and the gap between the church as perceived and the church as it should be and one
day will be the beautiful, alluring bride of Christ.
There is a longing for goodness in our conscience. Human flourishing requires us to
relate to our end purpose for living rightly.
There is a longing for wholeness in our conscience. I want to call this the Dr. Jekyll
effect of our longing.
Our conscience longs for justice. The human heart is stirred and awakened when
confronted with horrific evil and injustice.
There is a longing for significance in our conscience. Have you ever reached a point
when you asked God, “Is this it? “Is this the good work you have created for me to do?”
There is an innate desire given to us by our creator to live for something significantly
more significant than ourselves.
We now invite others to join us in the gospel story as we pursue wholeness, justice, and
significance together.
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LOOKING FOR MORALITY
Lewis’s argument for God from morality is found in the first five chapters of Mere
Christianity. It can be summarized as follows.
1. There is a universal
law of right and wrong.
2. If there is a universal law, there is moral lawgiving.
3. There must be something beyond the material cosmos if there is moral lawgiving.
4. Therefore, there is something beyond the cosmos.
How do we move from the admission that there is a transcendent reality to the Christian
understanding of God? Why should we believe that the mind behind moral argument is
personal, let alone the personal God of Christianity?
According to Lewis, a personal God is the best explanation for our present predicament:
“It is after you realize that there is a real Moral Law, and a power behind the law and that
you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that power – it is after this, and not
a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk.”109
Session 2 Table Talk Questions
Goal: to understand our mission to bring reason, conscience, and imagination to a post-
Christian culture.
1. What do you think has contributed to our post-Christian culture today becoming
more disenchanted with the idea of Christianity?
2. What does it look like for you to have a genuine missionary encounter?
3. What practical things can you do to help re-enchant a disenchanted post-Christian
culture?
4. Why is it essential that we make the God of the Bible plausible? How has our
Christian culture today led people to see the God of the Bible as implausible?
5. What role does reason play in apologetics? How can logic be an effective
resource in apologetics?
We have all had to answer difficult questions about our faith. How would you answer the
following questions with reason? What are some other tricky questions people have
asked you? How did you respond?
The church is responsible for so much injustice.
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How can a loving God send people to hell?
Science has disproved Christianity.
You cannot take the Bible literally.
Group Collaborative Exercise
As a group, collaborate on one practical action step from the session on bringing the
mission of reason to incorporate into your daily lives this week. (Next week, your group
will gauge the effectiveness of your action step.)
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Section 3 The Mission of Covenantal Apologetics in Everyday Life.
Goal: to understand that there would be no real solution for faith reason apart from
accepting the precepts of the Bible.
A. We set Christ Apart as Lord in our Hearts.
1. The Great I Am
2. Condescension and Apologetics
3. Ten Tenants of Covenantal Apologetics
B. The Proof of All Men
1. Paul in Athens
a. Proving Proofs
b. The Burden of Proofs
C. We Persuade Others
1. Principle Status of Scripture.
2. God's Natural Revelation in Creation.
3. God’s Universal Mercy.
D. We Destroy Arguments
1. Fight the Good Fight.
2. Negative Apologetics.
3. Positive Apologetics.
E. We Walk in Wisdom with the Outsider.
1. The Wisdom of Persuasion.
How is it that the God who is independent and needing nothing from us has
at the same time freely committed or bound himself to his creation.
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Set Christ Apart as Lord
We have seen that Christ's Lordship provides the foundation for our defense of Christianity.
If we have not set Christ apart as Lord (1 Pet. 3:15), then we cannot be adequately
prepared to answer anyone who asks about our hope in him.
The first thing to recognize and understand is that Christ's Lordship is given to him by the
Father and is the reward and outcome of his obedience as the Son.
How do we biblically understand God’s existence?
Two unchangeable guarantees
1. It is guaranteed because the god who cannot lie has taken an oath. (Hebrews 6:17-
18).
2. He is the God who is with us.
Historically, Christian theology has derived the character of attributes of God initially and
primarily from names. We learn who God is first by the names he gives himself.
God exists as one who needs nothing from us.
God did not create because he needed fellowship; as the triune God, he has perfect
fellowship with himself.
The covenant that God establishes is a covenant made by God’s own free
decision.
God’s announcement to save his people from their slavery is a revelation, both in word and
deed, of God’s twofold character. We have God revealing and explaining to Moses his
very name—the “Lord,” and we also have God announcing to Moses his identity as the
God of Moses’s fathers, the covenant-making God.110
Note: in Exodus 3, as Moses approaches the burning bush, it is made clear that he is in the
presence of God himself. As the Lord then begins to explain his covenant purpose for
His people, Moses asks the covenant Lord to reveal his name so that Israel might know
that Moses is the Lord’s chosen mediator. And the Lord reveals the name of “I Am.”
(another picture of God’s utter independence apart from Israel)
Covenant, as given in the Westminster Confession, is a notion of God’s free decision to
condescend.
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The term condescension of God is a symbolic way of speaking. It does not mean that God
began to occupy a space he did not previously occupy. He is not coming down to a
location where he was otherwise absent.
In Genesis 3:8, for example, the Lord God condescends to walk in the garden in the cool of
the day. We read in Exodus 3 that the Lord has come down to deliver his people. The
Bible contains instances of God’s covenantal condescension from beginning to end.
The Bible itself is a product of such condescension.
Covenantal condescension is necessary to bind himself to his creation.
Look at John 1:1, where we see more clearly God's condescension manifested in Jesus
Christ. John clarifies that Jesus is both cosmic and (since Genesis 3) redemptive. In the
beginning, this is also meant to parallel his creative work in Genesis 1:1. We see that the
second person of the trinity that John calls (logos) the word is himself, God. (The word
was God, and the word was with God.)
The most notable condescension of God is revealed in the incarnation.
The truth of God's Lordship in Christ should thoroughly wash over the totality of who we are
until all that we do is honor Him as the Lord of our lives. In 1 Peter 3:15, when we are
commanded to set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts, he gives us a crucial and all -
encompassing mindset necessary to engage in the battle that rages in the heavenly places.
THE TEN TENANTS OF COVENANT APOLOGETICS
1. The faith that we are defending must begin with, and necessarily include, the
triune Godfather, Son, and Holy Spirit—who, as God, condescends to create and
to redeem.
2. God’s covenantal revelation is authoritative by what is, and any covenantal
Christian apologetic will necessarily stand on and utilize that authority to defend
Christianity.
3. the truth of God’s revelation, together with the work of the Holy Spirit, brings
about a covenantal change from one who is in Adam to one who is in Christ.
4. Man (male and female), as the image of God, is in covenant with the triune God
for eternity.
5. All people know the true God, and that knowledge entails covenantal obligations.
6. Those who are and remain in Adam suppress the truth they know. Those who are
in Christ see truth for what it is.
Consider the image of God like the image seen in a mirror. We realize that the
image must be always present in front of the mirror for there to be an image. But
we also see the image as an image, while reflecting the original, depends at every
second on the presence of the original for its very existence. If the image is no
longer present, then the image is gone. The image is dependent on its very
existence on the original. The image is not dependent on that image to be what it is.
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7. There is an absolute, covenantal antithesis between Christian theism and any
other opposing position. Thus, Christianity is accurate, and anything opposing it
is false.
8. Suppression of the truth, like the depravity of sin, is total but not absolute. Thus,
every unbelieving position will necessarily have within its ideas, concepts,
notions, and the like that it has taken and wrenched from its proper Christian
context.
9. The actual covenantal knowledge of God in man and God’s universal mercy
allows for persuasion in apologetics.
10. Every fact and experience is what it is by God's covenantal, all-controlling plan
and purpose.111
Proof to all Men
Paul concludes in his address to the Athenians in Acts 17 that the time for ignorance of man
has been overlooked, and now the time has come for all men to repent.
All of Paul’s language is covenantal language. God’s creation, his appointing the boundaries
for all humanity, his independence with his exhaustive presence with each of us.
Where can we flee from God’s presence?
Once sin entered the world, the first response to God's presence was to attempt to hide
(Genesis 3:8). It was a response of desperation.
The pain, shame, and guilt that disobedience brings to Adam and Eve are
motivated by self-deception.
Since that fateful day, man has continued to pretend as if he can hide from God. (Jonah 1:1-
10)
Consider Psalm 139; David is not expounding personal truths in this psalm. He
recognizes the sheer magnitude of God’s covenantal character over all creation.
When Paul addressed the Athenians at the Areopagus, he addressed, as Francis Schaeffer
once said, “men without the Bible.”112 Two universal truths always apply to all people
everywhere.
1. God’s inescapable Image.
First, Paul made clear to the Athenians and their philosophers that they were all responsible
creatures of God and that they owed their very existence to him (Acts 17:28– 29).
If we remain in our sins, in Adam, we are judged and condemned because we are in God’s
image. Bringing the “image of God” is one of our most basic covenantal categories.
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There are two aspects of lordship we should highlight:
1). As Lord, God has committed himself, for eternity, to his creation.
2) Because he is Lord, our relationship with him is not one of equality.
When God created us in his image, he intended us to be lords under him over everything
else.
2. God’s unwavering Revelation.
The truth that informs Paul's Areopagus speech is that God is not hindered by our supposed
barriers to belief. He always reveals himself everywhere and always to those created in
his image.
3-Fold truth of humanity as given by Paul
1) Our being made in God’s image is God’s revelation to us.
2) As a revelation, it is implanted in us by God himself.
3) The knowledge that is implanted in us is universal and infallible.
Notice that first, we are born as we are in a state of sin and continue in the state of sin by our
wickedness; we all know God, as Paul introduces in Romans 1:18.
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Beginning in verse 19, he affirms that every man has a knowledge of God. Verse 18
bears out the context of our suppression of the truth. This knowledge of God that we all
have is significant and substantial.113
Proving the proofs
An argument of proof is an argument with three propositions: 2 Premises (P) and a
conclusion (C)
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary includes this definition of proof: 1a: the
cogency of evidence that compels acceptance by the mind of a truth or a fact.114
According to the definition of proof, the existence of God cannot be proved. We must
remember that accepting evidence does not compel us to accept it; the Holy Spirit alone
brings us into agreement.
The burden of proof.
One book on critical thinking defines the “burden of proof” as follows: “The burden of
proof rests most heavily on the side of the issue that, from the point of view of educated
common sense, is most implausible or unusual or unbelievable.”115
We should take on the burden of proof when appropriate. We must expect for anyone
born in Adam that such truths will always seem strange and out of place for those who
have suppressed the truth of the knowledge they have been given as image bearers of
God.
We Persuade Others
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others (2 Cor. 5:11).
THE THEOLOGY OF PERSUASION
We must favor favoritism over strict demonstrative proofs because of God’s covenantal
revelation.
The canon of scripture is the most basic and foundation for all that we want to say in
apologetics. The world is never divorced from God’s revelation in his creation.116
The dilemma is apparent. There cannot be enough evidence to support our propositions;
there must be some foundation of authority. For this reason, the founding fathers of the
Reformation placed scripture as the proper foundation for everything.
The first theological truth that foundation that informs the priority of persuasion
is the principal status of scripture.
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“Scripture is the principle upon which everything else we say, believe, think, and
argue must rest.”
The second theological foundation that informs the priority of persuasion is that
we move from special revelation in scripture to his general, natural revelation in
creation, specifically in us.
The third theological truth that significantly impacts how we think about
persuasion is God’s universal mercy over all that He has made.
Since man is totally depraved, it follows that there is nothing that man can do or think is
good—nothing that we can say can fundamentally change the effects of sin.117
All of humanity, in every aspect, is depraved, sinful, and in rebellion against God. The
question is how we can account for the things done by unregenerate people that are not
evil, at least on the surface.
1. The first aspect of God’s universal mercy includes God’s attitude toward his
creatures made in his image, which is one of wrath because of sin (Rom. 1:18),
but also mercy and kindness toward them.
Note, for example: The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all he has made.
(Ps. 145:9)
2. The second aspect of God’s universal mercy is the restraint of sin in individuals'
and society's lives.
In Romans 1:24,26, 28, we read that “God gave them up,” indicating that God has been
restraining or holding back the sinful tendencies of those on whom his wrath rests.
3. The third aspect of God’s universal mercy is a consequence of the first. It
includes that the unregenerate can perform “righteous” acts even though they are
still slaves to sin.
We read in Hebrews 6:4-6 that some have once been enlightened; they have tasted and
seen that the Lord is good and then fallen away. Therefore, some can participate in the
body of Christ but have never bowed the knee to the Lordship of Christ.118
How is this possible? There is a biblical difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the
gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the spirit are such that anyone can participate in them.
However, the fruit of the soul is reserved only for the regenerate. This is why, as
believers, we are called to be fruit inspectors. (Matthew 7:15-20) The gifts are not saving
sanctifying graces.119
Aristotle’s three kinds of Persuasion:
1. [ethos] depends on the personal character of the speaker.
2. [pathos] puts the audience into a specific frame of mind.
3. [logos] the apparent proof provided by the words of the speech itself.
Character [ethos] Acts 17:18: “What is this babbler saying.” Character is not measured
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solely by those to whom we are speaking. The word of God itself measures ethos.
Emotions [pathos] “Having a proper and personal understanding of those to whom we
speak.
Word [logos] The logos of persuasion focuses on the arguments, including their content,
that we aim to present to a particular audience. Therefore, the content of our words and
all their arguments must be rooted in scripture.
We Destroy Arguments
The Good Fight
We destroy arguments (2 Corinthians 10:5), Which is one of the things that characterize
Paul’s ministry. We know there is and always will be hostility towards the Christian faith.
It is the responsibility of every Christian to defend and commend the gospel.
1 Timothy 6:12
2 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called
and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul’s word for “arguments” in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (logismous) is explicitly directed
against his opponents’ appeal to authority. They were attempting to establish themselves
as authorities in the church solely because of their expertise and intellectual power. So,
their arguments were only as strong as their ideas.
Paul is reminding us that the arguments presented by these intruders were only as
authoritative as the intruders themselves.120
Apologetics, in many ways, is a battle over authority.
NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE APOLOGETICS
We should think of apologetics within two distinct tasks: a positive one and a negative
one.
Positively, the apologist's work is to defend the Christian faith to those affected by it,
even those enslaved by unbelief.
(This happens when we have a conversation with someone about the gospel with which
undoubtedly objections are raised.)
Negatively: the task of apologetics is to refute challenges to the truth of the Christian
position.
(Quicksand is often included in the negative aspect of apologetics. We seek to show how
So, is it possible, we could ask, that the fact that Adam responsibly and
freely chose to eat the forbidden fruit brings together God’s existence and
the existence of evil such that they are now seen to be compatible?
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the position advocated against Christianity sinks under its weight.)
The negative and positive of apologetics should not be separated. (Many times,
they can be used simultaneously together)
One can commend the Christian faith even while defending it against attacks. One can
destroy an argument even while building another one.121
Negative Apologetics
The initial goal of a negative apologetic is to ward off objections and complaints
against Christianity.
There are two reasons that the problem of evil is a compelling objection to Christianity.
1) There is an incompatibility between the character of God and the evil that exists.
2) The evil that exists is real and profoundly touches everyone.
So, two statements define the problem: (1) an omnipotent, omniscient, and good god
exists, and (2) evil exists in the world; therefore, how can we possibly bring ourselves
to affirm that God and evil can co-exist?
Plantinga suggests that what is needed is a third statement that is consistent with and
includes other words that are not in conflict with one another. So, we need a
statement that provides for God's existence and the existence of evil.
One prime candidate is this: (3) “Adam responsibly and freely chose to disobey God,
to eat the forbidden fruit, after which time he and all of creation fell.” This statement,
we should note, is consistent with (1)—it is consistent with the existence of a good,
omniscient, and omnipotent God. And it is consistent with (2)—it entails the reality
of sin and evil since the fall of Adam and all of creation brought evil into the
world.122
POSITIVE APOLOGETICS
In the objection to the existence of evil in the world, the objector has, by way of their
objection, opened themselves up to taking seriously how it is that we know things
about God.
This objection assumes that God is good, omniscient, and omnipotent. And we know
who God is only by his revelation to us.
To reiterate, it is not the case that the objector believes this about God.
Rather, it is the case that the objection requires this understanding of
God. Thus, the objection assumes a certain knowledge of God, and how
it is obtained is directly relevant to the objection itself.
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A further objection is given: “You have stated that Adam freely chose to eat the
forbidden fruit in the garden, leading to sin and evil entering the world. But you have
not explained in any way how Adam could be responsible for his disobedient choice,
given God’s character.
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Indeed, an all-knowing God would have known what Adam was about to do in eating
the forbidden fruit, so could he not have determined to stop Adam's actions?
Objections assert Assumptions: The incompatibility of the properties of God.
Repeat their objection: “Now, the objection you have given indicates that the existence
of God as omniscient and omnipotent is not compatible with the existence of God.
At this point, we must consider exactly how God and the world are or can be related.
In any understanding of the God of Christianity, it is affirmed that God exists
necessarily.
It is not possible for him not to exist. He is not self-caused but rather is causal. His
existence is just who he is; he needs no causation to exist. And he needs nothing to exist
and to be who he essentially and necessarily is.123
Not only is God necessarily who he is, but everything else that exists does so only
by his free decision to create and sustain.
Paul’s point in Acts 17:28 was: “For in him we live and move and have our being.”
Instead of mirroring God’s character, Adam violates God’s character by eating the
forbidden fruit and plunging himself and all of creation into ruin.
We Walk in Wisdom with the Outsider
THE WISDOM OF PERSUASION
The role of persuasion in a conventional apologetic tactic is to discern the pathos of your
audience wisely.
Colossians 4:5-6 “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let
your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know how to answer
each person.”
First, “wisdom” in Scripture applies biblical truth to a particular situation.
Note: this wisdom is the opposite of trusting in our abilities.
Second, in “walking” wisely, says Paul, we are “making the best use of the time.”
Paul has in mind using wisdom as we speak with those outside of Christ. If we conduct
ourselves wisely when engaging with those who do not believe, we will inevitably get to
the heart of the problem. This problem focuses on the rebellion that characterizes the
“outsiders.”124
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Thirdly, Paul moves to the character of our logos (the word Paul uses here, translated as
“speech”). Our logos are to be gracious and seasoned with salt.
Section 3 Table Talk Questions
(Consider the 10 Tenants and how they can be used to help our apologetics.)
1. How important is it to understand that the faith we defend must begin with and
include the Trinity?
2. What part does the authority we are listening to play in our ability to defend our
faith?
3. Think back to your conversion. How did the truth of God’s word, combined with
the Holy Spirit, change you from one in Adam to another in Christ? How would
you explain this transformation to an unbeliever?
4. What part does one being created in the image of God have to do with how we
defend our faith?
5. How would you respond to the statement according to Romans 1:20-21 that
everyone knows the true God? How does this change how we approach our
apologetics?
6. What are some ways people tend to suppress the truth while we are sharing the
truth? What argument might one use when the truth is being suppressed?
7. Why must we begin our defense with the precise position that Christianity is true
and any other belief is false? Compare this with the pluralistic cultural mindset of
religious beliefs today.
8. How does understanding God's mercy help make sense of arguments against God
in our apologetics?
9. What part does God’s all-controlling providential plan and purpose play in our
apologetics?
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others (2 Cor. 5:11)
As a group, use the persuasive arguments you have learned in this session and present as
many arguments as possible to reinforce the following arguments.
1) Arguments from God’s Special Revelation.
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2) Arguments from God’s Natural Revelation.
3) Arguments from God’s Universal Mercy to all.
Group Collaborative Exercise
As a group, collaborate on practical action steps for incorporating covenantal apologetics
into your daily lives this week. (Next week, your group will gauge the effectiveness of
your action step.
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Section 4 The Mission of Christianity in a Pluralistic Society
Goal: The goal is to expose learners to different world religions and the significant
differences between them and Christianity.
A. Hinduism
B. Buddhism
C. Confucianism and Daoism
D. Islam
E. Christian Perspective and World Religions
1. Theologies and Religious Pluralism.
2. Various Theological Perspectives.
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Hinduism
The Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita are among the sacred Hindu scriptures.
Wise men preserved the truth of the generations in these scriptures.
Hinduism has become a very inclusive religion, offering contemplations and visions of truth,
often arrived at through Yoga. At the same time, it provides its millions of followers a
devotion of the heart to some god or goddess who will aid and liberate a soul in and from
this life.125
Hinduism has a philosophy that explains life.
A law to direct life.
A high road to truth through contemplation and mystical experience.
Hindus number over 500 million, most of which are in India.
Hinduism is no god, one god, many gods.
Hinduism is one of the most inclusive religions. Intellectuals may find a comfortable niche
in philosophical atheism or agnosticism and remain good Hindus.
Many follow a contemplative life, fixed upon a search for the principles of truth. Other
Hindus follow the path of elaborate temples, colorful rituals, and sacred altars in the
home; these Hindus worship countless gods and goddesses.126
Advaita Vedanta is an influential philosophical tradition within Hinduism.
Shankara, who lived in India about A.D. 750, expounded this philosophy. Advaita
means non-dualism, and Vedanta means the summation of the Vedas, the early
scriptures of the Hindus. Only one exists; it is called Brahman.
This Brahman philosophy has been described as pantheism, a god or supreme
principle with presence in everyone and everything.
Most early Hindu deities have disappeared and been replaced by a triad of gods
named Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
One of the most popular deities in Hinduism is Krishna. Krishna is a warrior and a
teacher. He is characterized as all-powerful, understanding, charming, and
compassionate.
Krishna transforms earthly pursuits into heavenly ones and guarantees his devotees a
Krishna paradise. With so much love and grace to offer, Krishna often becomes the only
god to Hindus who give their devotion and commitment.
Leaders in Hinduism are known as Gurus.
The goal of Hinduism is to attain freedom (Moksha), at which time Karma or
good works is perfect, the birth cycle is concluded, and the individual soul and
world soul become one.
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How does one attain good works? Hinduism offers three classic ways or margas. These are
the way of activity (karma marga), the way of knowledge (jnana marga), and the way of
devotion (bhakti marga). One may choose one or several of these ways in the hope of
breaking the birth cycle and experiencing ultimate freedom.127
The three classic ways of liberation and freedom are projected in a Hindu society
built upon a caste system.
5 Categories of the Hindu caste system.
1. The Brahma Caste is the most privileged. It protects and transmits the veda
scriptures.
2. The Warrior Caste is the governing class. It includes kings, princes, politicians,
the army, and the police. This group makes policy, collects taxes, and defends the
people.
3. The Vaisya is the third caste. It includes middle-class occupations, such as
merchants, traders, teachers, and artisans.
4. The Sudra caste comprises farmers, peasants, and manual laborers. This caste
undergirds the other three castes as a support system.
5. Another developed caste is called the outcaste or the untouchables. The
untouchables are aliens who moved into India. They have little association with
the other four castes. They perform such jobs as washing clothes, making shoes,
and cremating the dead. They have no access to the religious rituals of the other
castes.
Hindus believe that they are not in their caste by accident and that there is no injustice in
being in the caste they are in.
If the rules are followed, perhaps in another lifetime, enough Karma has been built to elevate
one to a higher caste. However, while one is in a caste, one must perform the
occupation of the caste, one must not intermarry with another caste, and there must be no
social mingling outside one's caste.
Hindus practice their religion in their home as well as in their temple.
The Sacred Cow
The taboo or ban on the killing of cows has affected the development of the meat
packing industry.
Many families have only one cow. Slaughtering it would drive the family from its lone
survival technique, farming. Also, cows give critical quantities of milk to people as a
protein source. The outcastes eat some beef from animals who die of natural causes.
The taboo does solve the temptation to eat cattle during challenging times, which means that
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others would not have cattle to plant their crops when the rainy season comes.128
Buddhism
India is the homeland of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that the problem in life is suffering,
and the cause of suffering is misplaced desire. The solution to life's predicament is the
path of the right thoughts, actions, and deeds.
After this enlightenment experience, the Buddha gathered a core of disciples and preached
his doctrines. A Buddhist way of life centered around the teachings of the Buddha, the
Buddhist pathway, and a community of monks. His teachings were handed down in
written form in the Tripitaka and the Sutras.129
Several Main Branches of Buddhism
1. The Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhists are particularly prevalent in South and
Southeast Asia in Burma and Thailand.
The Hinayana view the Buddha as a great teacher, and they emphasize the monastery's life.
2. Another branch, the Mahayana Buddhists, has broad influence in its expansion
from China and Korea to Japan.
The Mahayana developed elaborate Buddhist pantheons that elevated the Buddha and
other great Buddhist teachers into deliverers who enabled their followers to attain the
bliss of life and the world to come.
3. Tibetan Buddhism is known as Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana. It is a mixture of
Mahayana with mystical and magical thoughts and practices.
4. Zen Buddhism is the most popular form of Buddhism in Western countries. A Zen
master teaches and leads a follower through specific meditation techniques and
exercises to experience supreme enlightenment (Satori).
Expansionism and missionary zeal have been more characteristic of Buddhism than
Hinduism. Also, flexibility and adaptation have enabled Buddhism to appeal to diverse
populations like China, Korea, and Japan.
The teachings of the Buddha stress dependence on the individual to work out
one's problems and destiny. A Buddhist's goal is to arrive at Nirvana, and one
must be freed from this world to accomplish Nirvana.
The practice of meditation is essential for Buddhists. The Buddha taught that
meditation leads to tranquility and insight.
The Buddha has attained perfect wisdom and knows the way to Nirvana, the other
shore.
Buddhist scriptures, then, are multifaceted with many volumes. Unlike Hindu
scriptures, written by countless nameless sages, Buddhist writings are either in the
name of the Buddha or refer to his teachings.
Gautama Buddha formed his teaching from his experience growing up as a Hindu
in India. He pondered upon the meaning of disease, the aging process, death, and
the holy life lived by Hindu ascetics. The Buddha rejected the Hindu beliefs in
the Veda scriptures, the Brahmin authority and the caste system, and the idea of
an individual and world soul. He accepted the beliefs in karma and
transmigration.
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Buddha taught that there is no soul. The individual is composed of predispositions
or psychological forces called Skandas. These Skandas are made of atoms, but
they are not eternal. They are how karma or good action is transferred from one
life to another.
The Four Noble Truths
All life is suffering (dukkha).
All suffering is from desire or craving (tanha).
If there is no craving, there is no suffering.
If you follow the Eightfold Path, there is no craving or suffering.
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Birth is suffering. Decay is suffering. Illness is suffering. Death is suffering. The presence of
objects we hate is suffering. The separation from objects we love is suffering. Not to
obtain what we desire is suffering. Everything from A to Z is suffering. The Buddha
judged all of life and rejected the current ways of answering the dilemmas of life.
Confucianism and Daoism
Scholars often refer to the “three religions of China,” which include Confucianism, Daoism,
and Buddhism. However, this doesn’t mean there are three Chinese groups, each
following one of the three religions.130
Some have said that for mysticism (experiencing the divine realm directly), the Chinese go to
Daoism; for morals, they go to Confucianism; and for after-death needs, they go to
Buddhism. There is another element in the religious lives of most Chinese that is not
among “the big three” but is essential nonetheless, and that’s spiritism—giving reverence
to the spirits of their ancestors.
Confucianism
In the first period of his career, Confucius was a well-known teacher of Chinese rituals and
the art of government. Many young men are said to have come to study with him. His
public service didn’t start until he was fifty.
Confucius is famous for many things. He was the first to offer a school for all
young men, regardless of status or means.
He is also responsible for the six Confucian Classics—the Books of Changes,
Poetry, History, Rituals, Music, and Spring and Autumn Annals.
Confucius was an innovative thinker, and his moral and religious teachings have
shaped the Chinese mind for thousands of years.
Many have said Confucius taught only ethics, not religion. However, while it is
true that Confucius was primarily a moralist, he was not a secular humanist (saying
there is no divine realm, only humanity).
The central thesis of this religious humanism was what Confucius called Jen, best translated
as “benevolence.” It is formed in Chinese by two characters—one meaning “human
being” and the other meaning “two.” The combination of the characters has been
translated as “righteousness” and “benevolence,” referring to unself-conscious efforts for
the good of others.131
Living Life as a Confucianist
I think somewhere in the universe, there is a supreme God called Heaven,
who is watching us at every moment and will reward good and punish evil. I
don’t worship Heaven in a concrete way, or keep Heaven in my heart
constantly, but whenever I consider doing something indecent, I stop for fear
of possible punishment from Heaven. Whenever I have a good fortune or
something happy, I thank Heaven for its grace.
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Confucius and his successors taught single-minded devotion to virtue.
Confucius and his successors taught single-minded devotion to virtue. They
found joy in following what he called the Dao (literally, “the Way”) even when it
meant poverty, suffering, and death.
They said righteous people would be happy eating coarse rice and drinking water if
necessary to follow the Way because they were interested in doing what was right, not
making a profit. They didn’t worry about getting a full belly or a comfortable home but
whether they were being true to the Way.132
A Christian Perspective
1. Confucius believed that heaven imparts an original moral sense to each person.
This may be analogous to Paul’s divine law “written on [our] hearts” (Rom. 2:14–
15).
However, while they (especially Confucius) acknowledge their failure to live by this
moral sense, they don’t know much about the holiness of heaven and assume we can
perfect ourselves by our unaided efforts.133
2. Confucianists can only think of benevolence to others by comparing them to their
own family; Jesus gave a theological reason for loving others. They should be
loved because they are children of our typical heavenly Father.
While Confucius taught that enemies are to receive not love but correction, Jesus told his
disciples they were to love their enemies because this is how God treats them.
3. Perhaps most importantly, Confucius knew we were called to live up to grand
moral ideals, but he had little to say to those seeking forgiveness and redemption.
Daoism
Religious Daoists believe in gods with saving power, sinful human nature, and
redemption from guilt and sin using prayer, penance, alchemy, and other rituals of
personal religion.
2 Kinds of Daoism: Religious Daoism and Philosophical Daoism.
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Religious Daoists believe in gods with saving power, sinful human nature, and
redemption from guilt and sin using prayer, penance, alchemy, and other rituals of
personal religion. They seek immortality.
Philosophical Daoists are atheists who do not believe in life after death.
Philosophical Daoism
1. Ultimate concern: oneness with nature (the Dao)
2. View of reality:
a. Gods: none as such, only the impersonal Dao, which is the ultimate process of
change
b. Self: already one with the Dao, therefore inherently good
c. World: real and one but constantly changing
3. Basic human problem: separation from the Dao by human custom, rationality,
and routine
4. Resolution: Wuwei (nonstriving) and living close to nature, with spontaneity.
A Christian Perspective
First and foremost, for the philosophical Daoist, this is a lonely and chilly
universe without a God of love who brings his people back to himself.
Second, there is a sense of fatalism and passivity that do not fit a world run by a
God who seeks our participation in establishing his kingdom through our
obedience and prayer.
Third, Daoists tend to believe that if we would get rid of duty and formalized
learning, people would naturally do right and good things, which they now resist
doing. This seems complicated to believe after the Holocaust, the killing fields of
Cambodia, Stalin’s Gulag, and the genocide in Darfur.134
Daoist belief depends on what appears to be a naive confidence in the goodness of
human nature. The Christian doctrine of original sin (humans are predisposed to
selfishness)
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seems more realistic. And that’s precisely why Christians say we can’t follow the
Chinese Way or Christ’s Way without a Savior to enable us.
Islam
Islam is the second biggest religion in the world. In 2009, there were 1.57 billion
Muslims worldwide. You may be surprised that most do not live in the Middle East.
There are 203 million in Indonesia who say Allah is God and Muhammad the chief and
seal (last) of the prophets, 161 million in India, and 174 million in Pakistan. As you can
see, far more Muslims live in South and Southeast Asia than in the Middle East. There
are over 240 million in sub-Saharan Africa, with 78 million in Nigeria alone.
How many Muslims live in the United States? It depends on who answers the question.
Scholars at City College of New York say 1.1 million, while the Council on American-
Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim organization, claims 6–7 million. The best estimate
is probably between one and two million.
Islam is one of the world’s fastest-growing religions (Christianity is growing
almost as quickly). Several factors account for this growth.
a. They are fervent with their evangelism. (especially in Africa)
b. Their message is easily understood (Muslims say Christian theology is
complicated and hard to believe).
c. They offer the politically alienated prospect of national transformation by
changing their nation’s civil law to Islamic law (Shari’a law).
d. The most significant factor in Islam’s rapid growth rate is birthrate. In 1997,
the United Nations estimated that a woman in developed countries typically
bore 1.6 children during her lifetime, while the average woman in the largest
Muslim countries gave birth to 5.135
The 5 Pillars of Islam
1. Profession of faith (shahada): “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the
messenger of Allah.” Simply reciting this in public makes one a Muslim.
2. Prayer five times daily (salat). Believers are to face Mecca and pray in the early
morning, at noon, midafternoon, sunset, and evening. But before prayer at each of
these times, there is to be washing of the arms, feet, mouth, and nostrils—and
three times for each of these body parts.
3. Almsgiving (zakat). Sunnis are encouraged to give 2.5 percent of their income,
while Shi’ites are told to contribute 20 percent.
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4. Fasting during Ramadan (siyam). Ramadan is a month in the Islamic calendar
based on the moon, so the month is at a different time from year to year. It marks
the time when the Qur’an was first revealed to Muhammad. During this month,
Muslims are to abstain from all liquids, food, tobacco, and sex between first light
in the morning and complete darkness at night. They say the purpose of this
fasting is to practice self-restraint.
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). Muslims believe Mecca (in today’s Saudi Arabia) is
the navel of the world, the location of Eden, and the point on planet Earth closest
to Paradise. They say Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael built a house of worship
called the Ka’aba—which still exists as a giant stone cube draped in black. From
here, Muhammad is also said to have taken his “night journey” to Jerusalem,
Paradise, and back—all in one night.
Islam Belief
1. Ultimate concern: Paradise
2. View of reality:
a. God: holy, sovereign, powerful; the Judge of all; more distant than the Father
of Jesus—Allah is never called “Father” in the Qur’an—but is “closer than the
jugular vein” (Qur’an 50:16)
b. Self: free to choose righteousness or wickedness.
c. World: good creation of a good God
3. Basic human problem: shirk (idolatry).
a. when anything or a person other than Allah is given priority.
b. failure to obey Allah and accept the revelation of his prophet Muhammad 4.
Resolution: observance of the Five Pillars
How to talk to my Muslim Neighbor
1. Show genuine interest in your Muslim neighbor’s faith. Study it.
2. Be slow to criticize. A recent Muslim convert to the Christian faith in India said,
“Don’t discuss any of Islam's faults or weaknesses or speak ill of Muhammad or
the Qur’an. Speak to the Muslim of Jesus and his stories and miracles.” You may
be surprised to learn that Jesus is the most developed character in the Qur’an.
3. Muslims have a tough time understanding how Jesus could be God. To them, it
seems polytheistic or even blasphemous to say God has a Son. As we’ve seen,
most Muslims think this would require God to have engaged in sex, which is
unthinkable. But you can explain that Christians agree that God did not engage in
sex, that even the Qur’an calls Jesus the Messiah (Qur’an 3:45), and that the
Gospels say he is Lord and claim the authority to forgive sins.
4. The incarnation is equally tricky for Muslims. Charles White, a missionary to
Muslim parts of Africa, used to tell his students about the man who became an
ant. He saw ants going into a house where they would be poisoned. He repeatedly
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told them not to enter, but they didn’t listen. Finally, the man became an ant so the
other ants could hear and understand. By becoming one of them, this man was
able to save ants from destruction. This story helped Muslims understand why
God became a man in Jesus Christ.
5. The incarnation might be more accessible for Shi’ites to understand because they
believe a divine substance from Muhammad passes from Imam to Imam. They
can be told that, similarly, the divine substance passed—as it were—from the
Father to the Son.
6. The message of forgiveness and power through the Holy Spirit can appeal to a
Muslim who feels crushed by the demands of the law. She is told that she can
never know if she will reach Paradise, and because she knows the weakness of
her heart, she is in despair. The gospel message that Christ came to save sinners,
not the righteous and that he gives the power to live a virtuous life can be
liberating for such a conscientious soul.
7. Like all our neighbors, our Muslim neighbors and friends should be respected and
loved. We should recognize the religious truth they already have and not assume
they would need to throw out everything they’ve ever believed to come to Christ.
If they sense your respect for them, they may, like Cornelius, who already feared
God and prayed regularly to God before he heard about Jesus (Acts 10:2), “listen
to all that the Lord has commanded you to say” (v. 33).136
Christian Perspective and World Religion
One Christian perspective on other religions has been that they are devoid of truth. Different
religions are considered false, and they are composed of pagans and idol worshipers. In
this view, Christianity. Christianity is the superior religion, and others have little worth
in their beliefs, values, institutions, and lifestyles. Since other religions are false, little
can be learned from them.
This perspective fails to take seriously the cultures
of other peoples.
Another perspective views Christianity as the religion that fulfills all others.
The Roman Catholic Church sees itself as the preserver of God's truths in their
completeness. The greater the distance a religious community is from the Roman
Catholic Church, that is, from other Christians, Jews, Muslims, or atheists, for
example, the less truth that community has.
A generalized view voiced by some Christians is that there is little difference in
any of the religions in matters of ultimate significance.
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Another perspective is that all religions, including Christianity, are subject to
God's judgment and the norms of the gospel, as reflected in Jesus Christ's life and
teachings.
Within Christianity, there are diverse views of the significance and meaning of other
religions.
Theology and Religious Pluralism
Throughout the history of Christianity, there have been various diverse orientations
toward people of other religions and their relationships to truth, salvation, and human
destiny. Some theological views have been exclusivist, seeing little, if any, revelation,
knowledge of God, or redeeming values of people of other religions. Other views have
been more inclusive.
There are three focuses of the gospel and religious life.
1. The first focus is on God, humanity and family, relationship possibilities,
rebellion, and sin.
2. The second focus is on God and the gospel. It is on the life-death-life of Jesus
Christ. It is on the one named Immanuel, Son of God, Rabbi, Master, Teacher,
King of the Jews, Lord, and the Lamb who takes away the world's sins. The focus
is definite, sharp, and historically and culturally penetrating.
3. The third focus is upon the Christian individual or anyone of humankind. It is the
paradoxical experience of being created from the womb and yet still being
created, of loving and dying, of using and misusing, of being proud and ashamed
of needing and being needed.
All three foci present God, the gospel, and the individual in a significant pattern of
relationships. The data of the gospel are persons and their specific needs and possibilities.
There is no strategy to relate to another religion. The focus is on persons who may be
religious and whose religious aspirations, loyalties, and commitments may be misplaced.
Thus, the Judeo-Christian pilgrimage's spiritual heritage has been filled with the
initiatives God has taken through the gospel to benefit humankind.137
Session 4 Talkback Questions
1. How have Christians' perspectives toward other world religions hindered the
gospel's spread into complex religions?
2. Which religion do you consider the most significant challenge to Christianity?
Why?
3. Why are sacred writings critical to religious people? Why is your scripture vital to
you? How would you explain your scripture to another person?
4. Are there similar principles and practices among the major religions? What makes
them similar or dissimilar?
5. What are the primary challenges to religions' survival and growth patterns?
Which do you think are the most important? Why?
6. How does having a greater understanding of the belief systems of other world
religions help you be better prepared to engage them in conversation?
7. Why is attacking another person’s religious beliefs never a good way of reaching
them with the gospel message?
8. What does showing gentleness and respect to people of other religions look like?
9. Pick one of the religions we discussed in the following study and determine the
best defense to reach the gospel message and why.
