On Apologetics, IV
A five part series on how to defend the Christian faith
This series is from our Midweek (Wednesday evening) Classes at Stillwater Church, where I serve on staff. Each part of this series will include the class notes and a video link to watch each class on Stillwater’s YouTube channel. In some of the videos, I made some minor corrections to myself in the comment section. If you choose to watch, read, or study apologetics with me, I pray it blesses you!
Why Does Apologetics Matter & Why Share These Studies On My Substack?
Some of you may be asking these questions, and they are great questions. The answer to the first question is answered near the beginning of my first study on this topic, which can be found below. Before you get there, a brief answer is that truth matters, truth should inform and shape our lives, and we should defend truth because Scripture tells us to. Additionally, the study and practice of apologetics has greatly impacted my life and faith. As someone with a curious brain and a drive to know God as fully as I can, I have wrestled through many of the big questions surrounding the existence of God, who God is, why evil exists, if the Bible is trustworthy, and why Christianity is the best worldview/lifestyle. These topics, among many others, are what I teach and work through in these studies. I pray this series encourages and equips you to know the truth, to live the truth, and to defend the truth boldly in love.
Week 4: The Christian Worldview & the Wesleyan Way
Below will be the notes for part three. Feel free to follow along with the video!
And whosoever is what I preach, (let him be called what he will, for names change not the nature of things,) he is a Christian, not in name only, but in heart and in life. He is inwardly and outwardly conformed to the will of God, as revealed in the written word. He thinks, speaks, and lives according to the method laid down in the revelation of Jesus Christ. His soul is renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and in all true holiness. And having the mind that was in Christ, he so walks as Christ also walked. By these marks, by these fruits of a living faith, do we labour to distinguish ourselves from the unbelieving world, from all those whose minds or lives are not according to the Gospel of Christ. But from real Christians, of whatsoever denomination they be, we earnestly desire not to be distinguished at all, not from any who sincerely follow after what they know they have not yet attained… Dost thou love and serve God? It is enough. I give thee the right hand of fellowship. If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies; let us strive together for the faith of the Gospel; walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; remembering, there is one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called with one hope of our calling; “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”[1]
What is a Worldview?
“The term means literally a view of the world, a biblically informed perspective on all reality. A worldview is like a mental map that tells us how to navigate the world effectively. It is the imprint of God’s objective truth on our inner life.”[2]
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”[3]
The Christian worldview is to see life through the lens of death & resurrection, to look at living as both a cross to be carried & an empty tomb, and to navigate the world with the kenosis of Christ and objective truth of God imprinted on our inner life
What is Truth?
“That which corresponds with its object.”[4]
“Truth is absolute, exclusive, and knowable.”[5]
In John 14, Jesus is called the truth. In John 16, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. In John 17, Jesus calls the Word of God truth.
Truth is that which corresponds to fact or reality; it is absolute, exclusive, and knowable; truth is also who God is.
Worldview Questions:[6]
Origin: Where did we come from?
We are created on purpose, for a purpose, by a Triune God of love.
“For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”[7]
Identity: Who are we?
We are created beings made in the image of our Creator to love and be loved.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”[8]
Meaning: Why are we here?
We exist to love and be loved fully.
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”[9]
Morality: How should we live? How do we deal with evil?
We should live to seek the good, stand against evil, and cling to the eternal life and peace found in Christ.
Evil is dealt with at the cross of Christ, is being dealt with with the coming Kingdom of God, and will ultimately be dealt with at the return of Christ.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”[10]
God, as St. Augustine says, “judged it better to bring good out of evil rather than to allow nothing evil to exist.”[11]
Destiny: Where are we going?
Those of us who are in Christ are saved, are being saved, and will be saved, so that we can dwell with the Lord forever.
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”[12]
The Wesleyan Way: What Makes Us Methodist?
Renewal Movement, Not a Reformation
Methodism is “Protestant” in the sense that it is not Catholic or Orthodox.
Methodism, however, is not “Protestant” in that it has little to do with the Protestant Reformation; it was a renewal movement within 18th century Anglicanism that ended up becoming its own denomination.
Most Protestant traditions can be summarized (generally speaking) by the 5 Solas. Methodism, however, is summarized by:
Scriptural and social holiness
The Sacramental and liturgical life
The Spirit-filled and led life
The Best of Every Major Christian Tradition
Tradition & Liturgy from Catholicism & Orthodoxy (Sacraments, Polity, Confession, Holiness, Structure of Worship; Entire Sanctification)
Scripture from Major Protestant Traditions (Prima not sola, doctrines must be rooted in Scripture, justification by faith, assurance of salvation, and holiness of heart and life all rooted in the Scriptures)
Holy Spirit of Pentecostalism (Heavy emphasis on the person, work, fruit, and gifts of the Spirit)
[1] John Wesley, The Character of a Methodist (1742), 17-18.
[2] Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity (Crossway, 2005), 23.
[3] Philippians 2:5-8 NRSV
[4] Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Crossway, 2004), 47.
[5] Geisler and Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, 63.
[6] Geisler and Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, 25.
[7] Colossians 1:16-17 NRSV
[8] Genesis 1:26-28 NRSV
[9] Mark 12:29-31 NRSV
[10] Micah 6:8 NRSV
[11] St. Augustine, Augustine Catechism, 60.
[12] Revelation 21:3-8 NRSV