Apologetics and Worldview

Arguments based on J.P. Moreland’s lecture at the 2012 Apologetics Canada Conference as well as other select reading and lectures What is the Biblical Basis for Apologetics?

 Apologetics is a ministry  Apologetics is giving reasons to believe in Christianity and responding to objections raised against Christianity  It is a ministry of helping people  Apologetics works to remove obstacles to belief What is Apologetics?

 Spiritual Warfare  Ephesians 6  2 Corinthians 10:3-5  We are called to strike down and destroy false arguments and ideas Why is Apologetics Necessary?

 We should be knowledgeable of the culture around us and be able to talk about ideas  We should be able to reason against wrong ideas in intelligent ways that non-Christians can respect  We should stand up for what we believe What Should Christians Do?

 The fundamental thing dividing our world today  The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world What is Worldview?

 Ethical Monotheism/Supernatural Christianity  We believe in one God, who is a supernatural being, and in an absolute moral law  We believe that personhood exists in human beings and beyond human beings What is Our Worldview?

 Scientific Naturalism  Postmodern Relativism What are the Primary Secular World Views in Western Culture?

 We are the evolved products of natural selection which operates without purpose  Knowledge must be testable  No personhood outside human beings, no souls  Life is a zero-sum game  There is no free will, everything is cause and effect Scientific Naturalism

 Values come from human needs and desires  We work together to get what we want Scientific Naturalism

 Self-refuting  Many known things aren’t testable  Many things exist that aren’t accounted for by naturalism such as personhood  Personhood is more than a body and brain, it is not divisible into parts Problems with Scientific Naturalism

 Truth and reality are relative to your frame of reference, usually your culture  There is no moral law, or absolute right or wrong  Ethical claims are relative  Your personhood is not a soul, it is simply a bundle of your beliefs Postmodern Relativism

 Self-refuting because there is no truth  Postmodernist relativists can’t by definition believe in Postmodern relativism Problems with Postmodern Relativism

 Lack of souls justifies a functionalistic view of human beings  This creates a society wherein people’s value is only tied to their usefulness to the rest of us The Problem with These Secular Views