No Apologies | Atheism

Series goal: Build Confidence in Talking About Our Faith

How can we build confidence in our faith?

English Standard Version (Chapter 3)

15 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 that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Confidence

Gentleness

Respect

No one comes to Jesus because we’re smarter than them or better at debating than them, the love we have for others is what guides people towards Christ.

Today focus:

Atheist, Agnostic, Skeptic = Non-Deist

don’t believe got exists but in different ways.

Skeptics would say, “I doubt that God exists.”

Agnostics would say, “I don’t know if God exists.”

Atheists would say, “God doesn’t exist.”

Most are agnostic | Lack confidence to be certain one way or the other

Time on 3 Main arguments, not enough time to go through every argument

First one:

1. Hasn’t Science Disproven God?

Simply put, no. There are 9 things that point to God, ready?

9 Things That Point to God

1. Materialism Doesn’t Satisfy.

No amount of things will ever actually satisfy you: New phone? new one comes out yours works fine, still want a better one. New car? same thing etc...

2. Human rights in an ‘accidental’ universe.

The question of where morality comes from. If it were to be a human evolutionary thing, who gets to decide? Why is Biblical wisdom and morality seen as right by most all of humanity?

3. Power of Love and Beauty (Kindness, standards of human decency)

Kindness goes a long way, loving people makes a huge difference to them, human decency isn’t socially defined outside of the Bible, and yet these seemingly small things are massively important to the human experience.

4. Persistence of Christianity through history

Christianity is one of the longest standing world religions and one of the most persecuted through history. No one would fight that hard for a lie.

5. Question of the Origin of Universe

The big bang literally mirrors Biblical creation. We know that matter cannot be created or destroyed but scientists believe that the universe was formed out of nothing and in an instance everything sort of just happened. The SCIENTIFIC belief of creation goes against scientific principles.

6. Old-Testament Prophecy points to God.

There are over 400 OT prophecies telling of Jesus and He fulfilled all of them.

7. Historical evidence of Resurrection.

Add in evidence of biblical events. Rock of Horeb, Seashells found in desert areas point to flood. Evidence of 10 plagues in Egypt.

8. Unique message of Christianity.

Counter-cultural through all of history, especially in the time it was founded.

9. Personal Claims of Jesus.

Look at the 9 things that point to God in your handout, how can they point us to God?

Not just a good person/wise teacher. C.S. Lewis thoughts on claim

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” - C.S. Lewis

2. Was Jesus even a real person?

When we, as Christians, want to defend the historical Jesus, we always want to add “evidence outside of the Bible.” But, why? That is like saying, “Give me proof that George Washington existed, but don’t use any 17th Century American Literature.”

Christian evidence

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John: All first-hand witness to Jesus, 4 independent writers recording similar stories from their perspectives

Non-Christian evidence

The most popular is Josephus, who was a first-century Jewish historian.

Mention in Talmud, historical text on Jewish tradition.

Greek Scholars:

Lucian of Samosata, Mara bar Serapion

Roman Historians:

Thallus, Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius.

There is No evidence or scholars that believe that Jesus did not exist.

3 year ministry: IG Influencers and YT stars that had Millions of followers last year don’t exist anymore, or aren’t a big deal anymore. Jesus w/ 12 still the G.O.A.T. 2,000 years later.

More evidence of Jesus than Alexander the great but we all know he existed, many question Jesus.

3. What about all the evil in the world?

How have you struggled with the evil in the world?

Did this help you in your beliefs in any way?

This question is personal.

News Depression: hate crimes, shootings, endless wars.

Doubt God

Personal experiences: Loved one diagnosed with Cancer, Friend or family dies, suicide

Weep with those who weep, don’t pull out sermon notes. Love them NOW, talk to them (with love) later.

Tons of unfortunate answers, but not a problem for God, not a problem for xians, problem for atheist.

This is because

When evil just exists, and there is no “right” or “wrong,” you have to come to the same conclusion, like Nietzsche, who said that when pain and suffering happens, it just happens for no reason.

To me, that’s crazy.

Alvin Plantiga Said:

"It is possible that God, even being omnipotent, could not create a world with free creatures who never choose evil. Furthermore, it is possible that God, even being omnibenevolent, would desire to create a world which contains evil if moral goodness requires free moral creatures."-Alvin Plantiga

Let me end with this. I think answering questions are great, but it isn’t the complete solution. The Bible doesn’t say, “All my good answers will lead people to salvation.” It says that it is God’s lovingkindness that does that. God’s lovingkindness is demonstrated on the cross. It is then shown through the lives of those that He has rescued.

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

-Brennan Manning

Many atheists aren’t jumping towards Christianity, because when they see us, the only difference they see between themselves and us are that we choose to go to church on Sundays. For many, there is nothing about our lives that makes us distinct or separate. God knows that I don’t want you to wear cheesy Christian t-shirts and a million multicolor bracelets that say WWJD. However, if people can’t see that there is something different about you, why would they want to believe that Jesus is going to transform their life? So, then how is your life different?

English Standard Version Chapter 3

15 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 that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

I am here to help you so that you can make a defense for anyone who asks about what you believe. However, if your life is so much like their lives that no one is even asking, we have to change that. I pray that your life really does reflect the change Jesus can make inside of us.

How can we as a leadership team help you to make a defense for what you believe?

How can we pray for you this week?