SBC: No Apologies | Review Week

1. DOES GOD EXIST?

TOP (what they say): “God doesn’t exist.”

CLARIFY: 👉 “Do you believe evil is real or just opinion?”

MIDPOINT: 👉 Evil requires an objective standard.

Three Midpoints

1. Cosmological Argument - Evidence of Creation

2. Teleological Argument - Fine Tuning of the Universe

3. Moral Argument - Presence of Objective Morality

CLOSE: 👉 “If evil is real, doesn’t that point to a moral lawgiver—God?”

👉 Do you think everything exists for a reason?

👉 Can anything come into being without a cause?

👉 So would the universe have a cause?

👉 If everything exists for a reason, does that point to a creator?

👉 When you see something designed, do you assume it happened by chance?

👉 So does the design of the universe point to an intelligent creator?

👉 Do you believe there is such a thing as right and wrong?

👉 Why is something wrong?

👉 Is it wrong to kill an innocent person for no reason?

👉 Would everyone agree on that?

👉 So does that mean there is an objective morality?

👉 If morality exists, is there a standard of good?

👉 Would that standard have to come from something higher than us?

👉 If God is that perfect standard, are we perfectly good?

👉 If not, can we be in the presence of perfect goodness?

👉 If we can’t fix that ourselves, what would need to happen?

👉 What if God came to us to make a way?

👉 What do you think about Jesus?

2. WHY TRUST THE BIBLE?

TOP: “The Bible isn’t true.”

CLARIFY: 👉 “Do you mean it was changed, made up, or not from God?”

MIDPOINT: 👉 The Bible is historically reliable.

BUILD:

24,000+ manuscripts

Early copies (within decades)

No doctrine changed by variants

More reliable than any ancient text

CLOSE: 👉 “If it’s the most preserved document in history… why treat it differently?”

👉 When you say the Bible isn’t true, what do you mean?

👉 Do you mean it wasn’t written by God, it was changed, or the wrong books were chosen?

👉 Is your issue the message… or whether it was preserved correctly?

👉 If God did speak, what would you expect His Word to look like?

👉 Do we determine if ancient documents are reliable based on manuscript evidence?

👉 Do more copies and earlier copies make a document more trustworthy?

👉 Should we reject works like Plato or Caesar because we don’t have the originals?

👉 If we have thousands of manuscripts, does that help verify accuracy?

👉 If most differences are minor, does that change the meaning?

👉 If no major doctrine is affected, does that address the concern?

👉 If manuscripts over a thousand years apart match closely, what would that suggest?

👉 Do you think the Bible was created later or recognized early?

👉 If early Christians were already using these books, would councils be creating or confirming them?

👉 If many authors wrote over time but the message is unified, what would that suggest?

👉 If a text makes specific predictions that are later fulfilled, would that matter?

👉 If Jesus rose from the dead, would His view of Scripture matter?

👉 Did Jesus treat Scripture as myth or as authoritative?

👉 If Christ affirmed Scripture, what does that mean for how we should view it?

3. WAS JESUS REAL AND IF SO WHO WAS HE?

TOP: “I don’t believe in Jesus.”

CLARIFY: 👉 “Do you doubt He existed—or who He claimed to be?”

MIDPOINT: 👉 Jesus’ existence is historically accepted.

BUILD:

Accepted by atheist historians

Mentioned across cultures

Not seriously debated

CLOSE: 👉 “So the real question isn’t if He existed… it’s who He was. Right?”

👉 Do you doubt that Jesus existed, or do you doubt who He said He was?

👉 If most historians agree Jesus existed, is that really the issue?

👉 So is the real question who He was?

👉 Did Jesus only teach truth, or did He claim authority that belongs to God?

👉 Did He claim to forgive sins?

👉 Did He accept worship?

👉 If someone makes those kinds of claims, can they just be a good teacher?

👉 If Jesus claimed to be God, what are the possible options?

👉 Would that mean He was either lying, crazy, or telling the truth?

👉 Do people who are insane usually live lives of wisdom, clarity, and moral consistency like Jesus did?

👉 If Jesus was lying, what did He gain from it?

👉 Do people willingly suffer and die for something they know is a lie?

👉 If both of those don’t fit, what does that leave?

👉 If prophecies were written before Jesus and later fulfilled, would that matter?

👉 If people claimed to see Him alive after death, would that need an explanation?

👉 What could explain the transformation of His followers?

👉 If Jesus both claimed to be God and rose from the dead, what would that mean?

👉 If He is who He claimed to be, what does that mean for you?

4. DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD?

TOP: “The resurrection didn’t happen.”

CLARIFY: 👉 “Do you doubt He died, the tomb was empty, or the sightings?”

MIDPOINT: 👉 The disciples truly believed they saw Him alive.

BUILD:

Immediate preaching in Jerusalem

Empty tomb

Radical transformation of disciples

Willingness to die

CLOSE: 👉 “What best explains all of that—lie, mistake… or resurrection?”

👉 What part of the resurrection do you doubt?

👉 Do you doubt that Jesus died?

👉 Do you doubt that the tomb was empty?

👉 Or do you doubt that the disciples believed they saw Him alive again?

👉 If the earliest Christians were preaching the resurrection immediately, what does that suggest?

👉 If they were preaching it in the same city where Jesus was killed, what would that mean?

👉 If the body was still in the tomb, could the message have spread?

👉 What would convince the disciples that Jesus was alive again?

👉 Do you believe Jesus was crucified?

👉 If crucifixion was meant to ensure death, could He have survived it?

👉 If the tomb was empty, how would you explain that?

👉 If multiple people claimed to see Him alive, what could explain that?

👉 Do hallucinations usually happen to groups?

👉 If the disciples were afraid before and bold after, what caused that change?

👉 Do people die for something they know is a lie?

👉 How would you explain skeptics like Paul and James becoming believers?

👉 Which explanation best fits all of these facts?

👉 If Jesus really rose from the dead, what would that mean about His claims?

👉 If His claims are true, what does that mean for how we should respond?

5. WHY EVIL & SUFFERING?

TOP: “Why does God allow evil?”

CLARIFY: 👉 “What makes something evil?”

MIDPOINT: 👉 Evil requires real good.

BUILD:

Evil = corruption of good

Good = objective standard

Standard = outside humanity

Points to God

CLOSE: 👉 “So doesn’t evil actually point to God—not away from Him?”

👉 What makes something bad?

👉 By what standard is something considered bad?

👉 If something is evil, does that mean there is a real standard of good?

👉 Can you have “bad” without something first being “good”?

👉 If good exists, does that require a standard?

👉 If that standard changes, is it really a standard?

👉 If it’s just opinion, is it truly real?

👉 Where would a perfect standard of good come from?

👉 Would it have to come from outside of humanity?

👉 Would that point to a moral lawgiver?

👉 If evil exists, does that actually point to God rather than away from Him?

👉 Did God create the world with evil, or was it created good?

👉 What introduced evil into the world?

👉 Did man choose to obey God or rebel against Him?

👉 What entered the world through that choice?

👉 Do we still choose sin today?

👉 So why do bad things happen?

👉 If sin is the cause, what is the real issue—explanation or response?

👉 If God made a way to deal with sin, what would that look like?

👉 What do you think about God stepping in to take the punishment for sin?

👉 What will you do with that?