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Using Stories and Illustrations to Explain Your Faith March 8, 2008
Dr. Tim Muehlhoff
“Becoming a Community of Authentic Christ Followers”
Making your conversations memorable:
Jesus understood and utilized the power of illustrations.
The lamp under the bushel
(Luke
8:16)
The city on top of a hill
(Matthew
5:14)
The Good Samaritan
(Luke
10:25-37)
The camel and the eye of the needle
(Mark 10:25)
DEFEATER BELIEFS:
Most common defeater beliefs today:
1.
2.
3.
4.
DEFEATER BELIEF #1: CAN GOD BE GOOD IF TERRORISTS EXIST?
Question #1: Why did God even allow the possibility of evil and suffering?
ILLUSTRATION: Mr. Wonderful Doll
Question #2: Why doesn’t God just wipe out all suffering today?
ILLUSTRATION: American Idol
Question #3: Does God empathize with our suffering?
ILLUSTRATION: Father Damien
DEFEATER BELIEF #2: THE DISCIPLES LIED ABOUT SEEING THE RESURRECTED CHRIST
Why do we tell lies?
ILLUSTRATION: Catch Me if You Can
The following is a list of perks the disciples’ lies brought them:
•
James (son of Zebedee)—beheaded.
•
Philip—scourged, thrown in prison, crucified.
•
Matthew—slain with a crude, half-axe, half-sword weapon
called a halberd.
•
Andrew—crucified.
•
Mark—dragged to pieces.
•
Bartholomew—beaten and crucified.
•
Peter—crucified.
•
John—banished to the Isle of Patmos.
Tim Muehlhoff, Ph.D.
Professor of Communications
Biola University
Phone: 562.906.4570, E-mail:
apologetics@biola.edu
For information about upcoming events go to:
www.apologeticsevents.com
The Uniqueness of Christianity: Faith Built on Knowledge March 9, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.
Mark 2:1-12 Dr. Craig J. Hazen
“Becoming a Community of Authentic Christ Followers”
ARE THERE INHERENT LIMITS IN SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE?
Physical science cannot fully explain even the simplest of human activities.
Moral truth is something that we can
know even
though physical science can tell us nothing about it.
Yes, it is wrong to torture babies for fun. (Just in case you were wondering!)
Physical science is not the only path to knowledge.
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Resource
#1—Book: To
Everyone an Answer (Available
at the fountain and the Terrace today)
IS “FAITH” OPPOSED TO KNOWLEDGE?
Biblical “faith” has nothing to do with blind leaping.
Christianity is testable and therefore stands apart from the other religious traditions.
1 Corinthians 15: 12-19
The Resurrection of Jesus is the best attested fact of the ancient world.
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Resource
#2—Audio CD: “Evidence for the Resurrection” (Available at the fountain and the Terrace today)
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Resource
#3—Special lecture: “Evidence for the Resurrection” (Available at the fountain and the Terrace today)
CHRISTIANITY IS UNIQUE IN ITS APPROACH TO REASONABLE FAITH
The Old Testament Prophets did not neglect this—Elijah
The Apostles were nearly obsessed with this—Peter/John
2 Peter 1:16 “We did not follow cleverly invented stories (Greek:
muthoi) when we told you about the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
1 John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have
looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”
Christianity is a knowledge tradition and Jesus himself set the stage for this.
Mark 2: 1-12 — Jesus and the Paralytic
THE PARABLE OF THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
Blind faith or knowledge from above?
There is a Rajah, the King Eternal, and He is not silent.
��
Resource
#4—Book: Five
Sacred Crossings: A Novel (Available
at the fountain and the Terrace today)
Craig J. Hazen, Ph.D.
Professor of Comparative Religion and Christian Apologetics
Director, Master of Arts Program in Christian Apologetics
Biola University
Phone: 562.906.4570, E-mail: apologetics@biola.edu
For information about upcoming events go to:
www.apologeticsevents.com
Connecting Christ and Culture March 9, 2008 at 10:45 a.m.
John Mark Reynolds
“Becoming a Community of Authentic Christ Followers”
John Mark Reynolds, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Biola University
Phone: 562.906.4570, E-mail:
apologetics@biola.edu
For information about upcoming events go to:
www.apologeticsevents.com
