“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” ― Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas

What is an Agnositic?  A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God. The question is??? WHAT ARE YOU? ‘A child saying a child’s prayer looks simple. And if you are content to stop there, well and good. But if you are not-and the modern world usually is not- if you want to go on and ask what is really happening- then you must be prepared for something difficult.’ C.S. Lewis

CHALLENGE   ‘Let us leave behind all these boys’ philosophies- these over-simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.’ C.S Lewis

THE DEBATE

The Agnostic Argument  The Argument from Uncertainty  The argument from uncertainty takes the fact that we cannot achieve certainty as to whether God exists as justification for agnosticism. Whatever evidence there is for theism and for atheism is fallible, the argument suggests, and therefore ought to be rejected. Of course, we accept fallible evidence as sufficient justification for many of our beliefs, so this argument will only be persuasive if there is some reason to require better evidence when answering religious questions than we require in these other cases. One possible reason for so doing is the importance of being right concerning the existence of God.argument from uncertainty  The Argument from Incomprehensibility  An alternative approach to arguing for agnosticism is the argument from incomprehensibility. Theists have often been content to say that we are unable to comprehend God, that his being transcends our mundane experiences and that our concepts, which are derived from such experiences, cannot be used to describe him. If true, then this might be thought to count in favour of agnosticism; if we cannot comprehend God, then how can we reason with any confidence concerning his existence?argument from incomprehensibility

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test QUESTION: Was it the intention of the writers to record what actually happened? ANSWER: 1) GOSPEL WRITERS STATE THEIR GOAL John 20:31: ‘These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (theological statement) 2) WE DO NOT FIND OUTLANDISH FLOURISHES OR CONVENIENT FALSE STATEMENTS

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 2. The Ability Test ○ QUESTION: Is it possible that the disciples were able to record the history properly over the 30 years of Jesus’s life? ○ ANSWER: -The Jews of the time were a people of Oral tradition. Rabbi’s were able to memorize the old Testament -NOT A GAME OF TELEPHONE

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 3. The Character Test ○ QUESTION: WERE THE DESCIPLES PEOPLE OF CHARACTER? ○ Answer: We see no reasonable evidence to suggest they were anything but people of great integrity.

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 4. The Consistency Test ○ QUESTION: Are the Gospel accounts consistent? ○ ANSWER: What if the Gospels were all exactly the same? What would you think? “There is enough of a discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them; and at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they all were independent narrators of the same great transaction.” -Simon Greenleaf

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 5. The Bias Test ○ QUESTION: Was there a bias that would have colored their work? ○ ANSWER: They did love Jesus very much but what would the gain be in telling this story? They gained criticism, ostracism, and martyrdom

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 6. The Cover-up test ○ QUESTION: Did the disciples tell stories about things that would be embarrassing or uncomfortable or did they cover up these things for their own gain? ○ ANSWER: Look at the Hard sayings of Jesus Look at things that would be convenient to leave out. The disciples even made themselves look foolish at times.

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 7. The Corroboration Test ○ QUESTION: Do the Gospels corroborate with history? ○ ANSWER: The Gospel accounts correlate with sources in history outside the religious realm Historical texts correlate well with the Bible historically

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 8. The Adverse Witness Test QUESTION: Do we see examples of contemporaries of Jesus complaining that the gospel accounts were just plain wrong? ANSWER: Many if they could would have tried to disprove the Gospel

How do we deal with Uncertainty?  Case for Christ: - Lee Strobel 1. The Intention test 2. The Ability test 3. The Character test 4. The Consistency test 5. The Bias test 6. The Cover-up test 7. The Corroboration test 8. The Adverse witness test

How do we deal with Incomprehensibility? Pascal’s theory: Given the possibility that God does exist and assuming an infinite gain or loss associated, a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not exist a person will only have finite loss. This is not the reason to believe in the Truth. Why does God need to be comprehensible?

How do we deal with Incomprehensibility?  David the psalmist addressed God’s unfathomable intelligence, confessing that “such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (139:6, emp. added).  God said: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Paul praised the “depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,” exclaiming “how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33, emp. added).  there are “the secret things” that “belong to the Lord our God,” which we will never know this side of eternity, and perhaps not even on the other side (Deuteronomy 29:29).  Thankfully, the one true and living God did reveal a substantial amount of information about Himself through nature, and much more through the Scriptures (Romans 1:20; Deuteronomy 29:29), that we might “have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Agnosticism  Practically not possible to be 100% agnostic  Do we have certainty that our Gospel is true and divine  Can we accept that our God is incomprehensible. Last thought: Many have simply said: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God”… Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.  These are the only two options, any other claim can not be made.