Apologetics Exam Questions And Answers
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What Is Apologetics? - answer• Apologetics: the reasoned defense of the Christian faith.
What is Christianity? - answer• It is an entire worldview (or "world-and-life view").
What three aspects make up an apologetic? - answer(1) Proof - Offer...
What Is Apologetics? - answer✔• Apologetics: the reasoned defense of the Christian faith.
What is Christianity? - answer✔• It is an entire worldview (or "world-and-life view").
What three aspects make up an apologetic? - answer✔(1) Proof - Offering reasons to believe
that the Christian worldview is true or reasonable.
(2) Defense - Countering reasons to believe that Christian worldview is false or unreasonable.
(3) Offense - Offering reasons to believe that non-Christian worldviews are false or
unreasonable.
Why Do Apologetics? - answer✔(1) to glorify God
(2) to silence unbelievers
(3) to evangelize unbelievers
(4) to edify the church and the believer
(5) to protect the church and the believer
• Analogy: curative medicine versus preventative medicine
(6) to promote theological insight
(7) to develop critical thinking skills
What Apologetics Is Not - answer✔...making an apology (in the popular sense).
...an excuse for being argumentative.
...a form of intellectual bullying.
...a substitute for evangelism.
What is the biblical mandate for apologetics? - answer✔• 2 Exhortations and 2 Examples
2 Exhortations
(1) Peter's exhortation:
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense
(apologia) to anyone who asks you for a reason (logos) for the hope that is in you; yet do it with
gentleness and respect..." (1 Pet. 3:15)
(2) Jude's exhortation:
"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it
necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to
the saints." (Jude 3)
2 Examples
(1) John's Example:
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this
book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)
(2) Paul's Example
"And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from
the Scriptures..." (Acts 17:2) Many examples in Acts
What is a "worldview"? - answer✔• It is their network of ultimate beliefs, assumptions, values,
and ideas that functions as a framework for interpreting their immediate experiences and for
interacting with the world.
What it TAKES to make a worldview? - answer✔• Theology: presuppositions about God (and
about ultimate reality).
• Anthropology: presuppositions about humans (origins, nature, purpose, etc.).
• Knowledge: presuppositions about knowledge and truth (whether, what, how, etc.).
• Ethics: presuppositions about goodness and morality (source, nature, goal, etc.).
• Salvation: presuppositions about the basic human problem and its solution.
What constitutes the Christian worldview? Theology: - answer✔• There is a God!
• God created the world (everything other than God) and is not dependent on the world.
• Creation is a finite reflection of its Creator: rational, moral, purposeful, orderly, one/many.
• God is a Trinity: one God in three distinct Persons
• God is a perfect being: he possesses all perfections and no limitations
• God is a (or rather the) Personal Absolute
What constitutes the Christian worldview? Anthropolgy: - answer✔• Created humanity: we
were created by God in his image
• Fallen humanity: we are fallen in sin and separated from God
• Sin affects every aspect of our being: will, intellect, emotions, etc.
• Redeemed humanity: we can be restored in the image of God through Christ
What constitutes the Christian worldview? Knowledge: - answer✔• All human knowledge is
grounded in divine revelation.
• Humans can (and do) have knowledge of God through:
- Nature
- Scripture
• Humans can (and do) have knowledge of the world through:
- Nature —both logical reasoning and sense experience
- Scripture
• A person's knowledge and understanding depends crucially on their spiritual state.
- Unregenerate unbelievers...
• ...suffer from the noetic (i.e., intellectual) effects of sin.
• ...suppress their natural knowledge of God in their unrighteousness
• ...yet still have no excuse for their unbelief
• ...will not and cannot submit to God's Word
• ...are liable to the "futility of unbelief"
• ...are kept by common grace from the full consequences of their sin and unbelief.
- Regenerate believers...
• ...are healed (at least partially) from the noetic effects of sin
• ...have a saving knowledge of God
• ...readily submit to God's Word
• ...should think in a distinctively Christian way
What constitutes the Christian worldview? Ethics: - answer✔• Morality is real, objective, and
universal.
• Morality is grounded in the divine character and will.
• Moral accountability is grounded in divine judgment.
• Moral truths can be known through both natural revelation and special revelation.
• Morality has deontological, teleological, and existential aspects.
- Deontological: laws/duties are relevant to ethical evaluation (e.g., Rom. 13:7-9).
- Teleological: consequences are relevant to ethical evaluation (e.g., Rom. 14:20-21).
- Existential: motivation ("the heart") is relevant to ethical evaluation (e.g., Matt. 15:18-20).
What constitutes the Christian worldview? Salvation: - answer✔• The basic problem: human sin
that invites divine wrath and judgment.
• The only solution: divine salvation through the cross of Christ.
• God's part in salvation: incarnation and atonement.
- Redemption is appointed by God the Father.
- Redemption is accomplished by God the Son.
- Redemption is applied by God the Holy Spirit.
Our part in salvation: faith and repentance—not meritorious works!
Classical Apologetics: What is their basic motto? - answer✔• Faith based on Reason
What is the basic approach for a Classical Apologist? - answer✔• A two-stage approach to
demonstrating that Christianity is true:
- Stage 1: Show that God exists using traditional theistic arguments.
• Ontological argument: the non-existence of God is not consistently conceivable.
• Cosmological argument: the contingent universe required a necessary first cause.
• Teleological argument: the apparent design in the universe points to a designer.
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