Answers Bible Curriculum Unit 1 Lesson 10
In this lesson, we look at a video from Answers in Genesis (https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/bible/scripture-scrutiny/) that ties together many of the topics we’ve discussed about the Bible thus far in our Sunday school curriculum. We then take time to review and discuss the unit with a series of questions.
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all right good morning that’s a little loud Dave is away this weekend so he asked me then elders asked me to fill in it’s a great opportunity because it’s also lesson 10 of unit 1 so it’ll be a review week so what we’re gonna do is actually watch a video first it’s a short video it’s by Pastor Brian Edwards it’s through Answers in Genesis and it talks about some of the same themes we’ve been looking at so if you read my email yesterday we summarized some of the points we did about why the Bible’s trustworthy where it comes from and different things like that so some of those are talked in the video and then after the video we’ll have some discussion questions so let’s just pray before we start father God we just thank you for this time that you’ve given us this morning that you’ve allowed all of us to come all of us to be here at church and to hear your word to hear about your word and to know you more through your word Lord to know your holiness and your provision for your word to stay true to stay unadulterated to stay pure over hundreds and hundreds of years that you’ve allowed it to to change lives to be to be instrumental in in your will in accomplishing your plan through Christ and through the church Lord that you would allow us to to be humble servants of your word learning that this time would be filled with learning filled completely with your spirit of equipping the Saints equipping all of us to to take what we learn this morning and apply it as we share the gospel as we seek to defend your word so we just lift this to your son to you and your son’s holy and righteous name well what I want to do this evening is to take you in a fairly fast and a very simple way through some very fundamental things a couple who hadn’t long become Christians he from Marxism when the Communists Empire collapsed and she from the watchtower movement sat down in my lounge and launched into their first and most pressing question it was a very simple one and it went like this tell us they asked what is the Bible all about well how would you respond to that well actually it’s not too difficult if you think about it the Bible tells us how everything got started at the beginning of time and then how everything went wrong when Adam and Eve broke God’s rules and spoiled it for the rest of us God had to punish to show that sin mattered but along with the punishment he gave the promise that one day and offspring from a woman would come to crush Satan and set things right again that of course is genesis 3:15 the whole of the Old Testament shows us how God begins that rescue plan and each book takes us a little bit more closer to the fulfillment of that plan it nudges us a little bit closer to the end it’s like a series of signposts pointing on to the coming of Christ and then the New Testament shows us the fulfillment of the plan when Christ came to make possible the reconciliation of failed sinners with a holy God and that as you all well know is John 3:16 and it leaves us instructions for Christians to live in this present world until Christ comes a second time to establish the new heavens and the new earth in which there will only be righteousness that’s what the Bible is all about genesis 3:15 john 3:16 just about says it all what follows is merely a primer so I’m going to start by apologizing in advance to those who learn nothing new for the next half hour and at least I hope you will be encouraged at the reminder of God’s great grace in providing for us a collection of books called the Bible that are fixed in their number are divine in their origin and are Universal in their authority now if I were to ask the question this evening what do you think at the moment is the world’s most popular book well some of you kids may well be ahead of their parents and you’ll say well probably that is the most popular book at the present time and how do we decide which is the world’s most popular book well we could do it on sales immediate sales you may be interested to know that on the 21st of July that sounds like two days time twelve million copies will come on to the book shows of our stores of this impressive Harry Potter I’ve got about number 12 million books well we could of course compare it with poor Paddington Bear who only managed fifty million copies since he arrived from Peru thirty years ago so he’s not really quite in the running either you could decide it on the wealth of the author undoubtedly JK Rowling is earning a lot of money many millions but there’s another way of looking at it you could ask the question how many languages has the book been translated into Harry Potter 63 out of almost 7,000 known languages in the world today 63 translations is not too bad but what about the other book the Bible been translated into four hundred and twenty two out of almost 7,000 languages and rising Wickliffe bible translators have five and a half thousand personnel working on every continent currently part publishing one new Testament every seventeen days in a new language some people somewhere must think it’s very important there’s no other book that has it’s such a widespread influence upon the art the literature and the music of the Western world than the Bible until recent decades it would be impossible to understand the culture of Western nations without understanding the impact of the Christian scriptures volumes have been written and they continue to be written with the this book as their foundation books on science and history trivial novels serious inquiries plays poetry prose drama and each year thousands of books pour off our presses of all languages with the Bible as their central theme it’s the Bible that molded our English language as we know it this honor does not as some people erroneously think belong to Shakespeare Shakespeare was familiar with the translation known as the Geneva Bible and he allowed it to shape his use of the language everyday English people speaking people across the world are using phrases and expressions that are straight out of the Bible though they mostly are quite unaware of this feat of clay tell it not in Gath iron sharpens iron a drop in a bucket for such a time as this faithful of the wounds of a friend a wolf in sheep’s clothing an angel of light escaping by the skin of my teeth lick the dust killing the fatted calf our days are numbered the writing on the wall and so on and so on eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and words such as Shibboleth and scapegoat and Exodus and Promised Land they’ve just slipped into our language straight out of the Bible even Bible characters are more often quoted than known Adam’s apple Samson’s strength jobs comfort as David and Goliath the wisdom of Solomon Daniel in the lion’s den doubting Thomas and Judas in fact I don’t know whether you have it in America but we have golden syrup in England or not every single tin of Tate & Lyle golden syrup you will have a Bible text though I heard a program on the radio recently it was quite clear that the person concern had no idea that it was a Bible text it comes when judges 14 and verse 14 out of the eater something to eat out of the strong something sweet however more than all of this the Bible remember is the handbook of Christianity if we want to know what Christians believe and if Christians want to know how they should live its to the Bible they must turn and in every area of life it is assumed that a manual must be free from error if it’s going to be useful in addition unless it is for specialists only it must also be straightforward to understand oh there may be some very difficult parts in it that require particular care if the true meaning isn’t to be lost but taken as a whole a handbook which is intended to inform ordinary route readers must be clear and uncomplicated and if those ordinary readers are to be found in a among a wide diversity of cultures then it’s going to be quite a remarkable publication it’s got to be unusual in its plainness and Universal in its appeal and if in addition to all this the manual is compiled over a period of some 1,600 years of human history and yet remain wholly consistent with itself in every part then by all reckoning it is going to be a remarkable handbook the Bible stands alone among all books ever written in meeting these requirements the Bible also stands alone among books not only by reason of its clarity its longevity and its popularity but because of the opposition that it attracts to itself all through its history even while it was being written its enemies have tried to destroy it it’s been burned banned his readers have been in prison and murdered for reading it and no book in the history of writing has been so more analyzed criticized and ridiculed why well certainly not because it’s a book of low moral standards that encourages people to rebel against governments and rulers it isn’t the Bible that spawns terrorism supports the corrupt corruption and cheers the idol on the contrary no book has ever been written that main such a consistently high standard of morality over such a long period of time it took 1600 years to for the Bible to be written it takes just a few seconds to destroy a copy and yet it is still the best-selling book the world has ever known more copies of the complete Bible are printed and distributed each year in more than 400 languages than any other book why then has the Bible been so bitterly attacked well because it is what it claims to be the reliable inerrant revelation of God whose message is demanding it must be destroyed or else obeyed there is no alternative so let’s turn to our Bible for a moment it’s a collection of 66 books as you know by 40 different writers over 1,600 years and yet it has one big story and just one author God the Jews had this Hebrew Scriptures they numbered them differently but all our 39 Old Testament books were theirs and no more most of it written in Hebrew it was completed around 400 years BC with the book of Malachi and of course Christianity adopted those same Jewish scriptures and then they added the four Gospels the life of Christ the Acts of the Apostles the life of the first Christians and those wonderful letters from leaders instructions for the churches and how exciting to know that when you read one of the New Testament letters you’re reading a letter in real life not just wise sayings but a letter for real life but what’s the Bible all about well like all books it has a beginning and it has an end and it has a middle most books have that don’t they Bible is no different let’s have a look at the beginning the beginning tells us how the universe started it tells us how the human race started know your origins and you’ll know your destination and you’ll have an idea of the route between the two well try this one out you’re going for a walk one day in the snowy weather and you come to a crossroads you’re in unfamiliar territory and you find that the signpost is broken down which way will you choose how are you going to know which of the other three routes you can take well it isn’t difficult because you’re a smart person so you can pick it up quite easily all you have to do is pick up the signpost put the arm that you know is down the road you’ve come from in its place and all the other three will point in the direction that they should in other words if you know your origin you can find your way to your destination and you can find the route in between quite easily there’s a very simple equation it goes like this origin plus destination equals root and isn’t that exactly where our society has tragically gone wrong today we’re confused about it about our origins therefore we’ve no idea about our destination and we make such a mess of what lies in between if you think you came from a monkey you behave like a monkey that’s the tragedy if you know you’re created in the image and likeness of God and you are accountable to that God it might just affect what lies between the two the Bible also tells us of course how sin and suffering started dr.
Sharon Nuland the u.s. bioethicists in his book the wisdom of the body a marvels at the miracle of the human body and he says it is miracle with flaws well we know where the miracle came from as a matter of fact we know where the flaws came from as well we have an explanation for both oh and then of course the Bible tells us how the rescue plan started genesis 3:15 the promise john 3:16 fulfillment and the Bible has an end it tells us how everything will be wrapped up at the end it tells us how God will bring his plans to a perfect conclusion with the new heavens and a new earth entirely without pain and suffering and cruelty in which only righteousness dwells and the Lord Himself will be there you know I don’t know how much you know about the Book of Ezekiel I have a bit of problems with some parts of the Book of Ezekiel they’re the hard part so I frankly frankly have to say I don’t understand it all but I tell you what I really do understand I understand the last two words of the Book of Ezekiel the last two words in the Hebrew is very simply Yahweh Shama and it simply means the Lord is there that’s how it’s all going to end up for the Christian the Lord is there Yahweh Shama and when the Bible has a middle as well God’s solution to the problem of sin and suffering 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus Christ and a bit before Abraham as well a special people in a special place Israel in Canaan a special people in a special tribe a special David in Judah a special child in a special town Jesus in Bethlehem hasn’t it wonderful that the Bible is full of stories with colorful characters and real-life drama it’s not a boring book at all the Bible is totally honest even its heroes are shown to be men and women who can slide into bad ways when they ignore the makers instructions and you know that’s a unique in ancient literature no ancient literature ever records the failures of their kings and their heroes only the Bible in ancient literature you never record anything that is negative because if you record it you perpetuate it so as I’ll show you later in the week there are evidences of them scoring our whole dynasties in Egypt because they were in their mind bad guys and so they never existed the Bible isn’t like that it’s very honest a primary purpose of the Bible is to reveal the sort of God we’re reading about and we can see this in creation and in the laws of God and in the life of Christ and in the letters of the disciples we see it in creation a God of unlimited power and wisdom we see it in the laws that he’s given us a God of moral standards who tells us how best we are to live we see it in the history and there’s lots of history a God who cares a God who rewards and punishes and is in control we see it in the life of Christ a God of compassion and care we see it in the letters of the Apostles of God whose concern for every part of life and then finally we see it in the revelation of John a God who’s written the very last chapter of history but why do Christians believe that the Bible is true well first of all because of its own claims for hundred times in the Old Testament the Bible says this is what the Lord says jesus said to his disciples the Spirit will guide you into all truth Paul once claimed we speak not in words of human wisdom but in words taught by the spirit Peter wrote not cleverly invented myths he said but we were eyewitnesses and John declared we proclaim what we have seen oh and by the way in case you’re thinking but that sounds like self self authentication that’s like putting a man in the dock and saying this man is innocent because he says he is how can you use that it’s an argument in circles well hold on a moment you’re using it all the time every time you say I think you’re using self event occasion nobody else knows what you’re thinking and they’ll either believe you when you tell us what you’re thinking or they won’t believe you and they’ll make a judgment on whether they believe you or don’t believe you by how honest you normally are if you’re a liar then they’re not going to believe you but if you’re always honest they will believe you you’re using self often occasion every day of your life so don’t let anybody tell you you can’t use that every time you say I think I dreamt last night nobody else can do it tell us except you so if this is God’s Word and God tells us who is greater than God to confirm what he has said where did the Bible come from well you should know that the best text for this is 2 Timothy 3:16 all Scripture is god-breathed now I know some translations have inspired it’s not actually I have to tell you the best translation of it let’s do a little bit of Greek together here’s a nice word theopneustos God breathed is what it means it’s made up of two words FeO God and new stas from which we get per pneumoniae and per pneumatic which is to do with breathing and air or lack of and this is a passive word it’s not actually inspiration it’s expiration and if you don’t know the difference between inspiring and expiring you’ll find out one day this is God’s Word breathed out by him that’s actually the origin you don’t go to 2 Timothy 3:16 to find out how we got the Bible 2 Timothy 3:16 tells you how where it came from God breathed it claims God is its author but if you want to know how we got it what you’ll go to 2 Peter 1:21 weren’t you men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit let me give you a definition of how the Bible came to us it goes like this the Holy Spirit moved men to right he allowed them to use their own language their own style their own gifts and their own culture but the Holy Spirit overruled in the expression of thought and the choice of words so that they recorded accurately all that God wanted them to say and exactly how he wanted them to say it and the Bible is therefore a harmony of the active mind of the writer and the sovereign direction of the Holy Spirit but does it matter well can we have a reliable message in an unreliable story or a reliable Savior in an unreliable history or a reliable salvation in an unreliable message or a reliable Authority in unreliable text let’s face it the church without a reliable Authority is like a crocodile without teeth it can open its mouth as wide as it likes but who cares and what’s the Bible for the Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all scripture is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness doesn’t seem to leave too much out does it the Bible is essential we are told for salvation it reveals God ourselves and our Savior for teaching it is the foundation for what we believe convicting it’s the test of all our actions correcting it’s the checklist for living and training it’s the rod of discipline how do we know that the Bible is true well there are two ways we can listen to the book there is a kind of ring of truth if you like about the scriptures it speaks with authority and so many have given their lives to read it William Tyndale was put on trial for translating the Bible tied to a stake garroted and then burnt in October 1536 why so that you and I should have a Bible translated from the Greek printed and in a language we could read and during the period of the Soviet occupation of much of the world Christians would do anything to keep a little Bible with them the one you’re looking at if you want to know it’s just fifty five millimeters long five centimeters it’s a tiny plastic Gospel of John the idea is you could hide it almost anywhere you could stuff it in the cistern if you wanted to leave it there and a day or two later you could get out the one you’re looking at I left in the glass of water overnight and it’s as perfect as it went in why did they bother because it mattered because it was a book that was important and thousands and millions of Christians across the world today are longing to have a Bible that they can trust and they don’t they’re denied it and of course you can do it by listening to the book but you can also do it by weighing the evidence I want to tell you very briefly about two very smart guys here’s the first one his name is Robert dick Wilson he was a professor of Semitic philology of Princeton Theological Seminary in the United States of America Semitic philology sounds very important you don’t have to understand it it’s just very important and he was an armchair scholar he read up the past he divided his academic life into three periods of equal periods of 15 years the first fifteen years he was going to learn every language related remotely to the Old Testament the second fifteen years he was going to read all the documents that were available and in the third fifteen years he was going to publish so he started he set out to learn a few languages he learned just as a sort of starting point he learned German and Italian and Portuguese and Spanish and French and he went on to learn Latin and Greek and Hebrew and Arabic and Aramaic and then he added Babylonian Ethiopia Phoenician Syriac and then concluded with Egyptian Armenian Persian Coptic and a few more as a matter of fact in the end he learned 26 languages and dialects how’s your French getting on then he spent 15 years using those languages to study all available material linked with the Bible and then 15 years publishing his results his conclusion I try to give my students such an intelligent faith in the Old Testament scripture that they will never doubt them as long as they live and he said no man knows enough to assail the truthfulness of the Old Testament the other man is Sir William Ramsay very different from about Robert dick Wilson dick Wilson was brought up to believe the Bible this man was brought up not to believe the Bible Sir William Ramsay was what I call a bucket and spade scholar where is the other one read up the past this one dug up the past he was quite a bright guy as it happens he was professor at Oxford in Aberdeen universities gained three honorary fellowships from Oxford nine honorary doctorates from British continental and American universities gained the Victorian medal of the Royal Geographic Society in 1900 and six was a found a member of the British Academy and was knighted in 1906 for his service to archaeology and there were a few other things but they wouldn’t fit on the screen and he spent a lifetime digging are passionate e’s were the lands of the Apostle Paul he was told to believe that Luke the writer of the Gospel of the gospel and also the Acts of the Apostles would be completely in error in most of his facts and he dug up the lens of the Apostle Paul’s travels and Luke’s record in the Acts of the Apostles and he came to this conclusion he said you may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond that of any other historians and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment Christianity did not originate in a lie and we can and ought to demonstrate this as well as believe it the evidence convinced him I want to give just two illustrations of the past I want to tell you first of all about a king who never existed that doesn’t look as though it’s gonna go very far does it a king who never existed you see until 1843 the only reference in known history to a king called Sargon was in one verse of the Bible Isaiah 20 and verse 1 and so it was assumed quite seriously that no such person ever existed it was simply a make up a name out of random then in that year 1843 Paul Bota was digging around in course about 15 miles north of Nineveh in modern-day Iraq and he discovered the remains of a temple and a library belonging to an ancient king of Assyria called guess who nobody ever denies him today I can take you and show you this in the British Museum he’s now one of the best-known kings of the ancient world guarding his palace he had two of these massive 15 feet high 10-ton human-headed winged Bulls that’s not bad is it for a king who never existed to build a 15 foot high 10-ton human headed winged bull and a pair of them as well and then I want to tell you briefly about an order that never was never given Luke – you know what happened in Luke – don’t you was long assumed that a Roman Emperor would never issue an order for a census as described in Luke – where every man went to his town to register what a load of nonsense a no-no Roman emperors going to ask people to do that oh really well that’s what they thought until this papyrus decree was discovered in Egypt which is an order for a Roman census in Egypt at the time of Trajan in AD 104 which mirrors the order of Augustus in Luke – almost exactly and the prefect Gaius Maximus orders all those in his area – guess what return to their own homes for the purpose of a census but let me just underscore this fact we do not believe the Bible is true because of this we do not believe the Bible is true because archaeologists have proved it we believe the Bible is true because of far stronger and more certain evidence it claims to be and is what it claims to be finally I want to give you just very briefly nine reasons to trust the Bible first of all its accuracy demonstrates it it’s consistently being proved true but as I repeat that is not the reason why we trust it we believe the Bible because of its own claim professor Wiseman an internationally recognized archeologist said recently archaeology properly understood always confirms the accuracy of the Bible and that’s one of the greatest archaeologists we his accuracy demonstrate its unity supports it one great progressive story relentlessly heading towards the fulfillment the promise of Jesus Christ every book in the Bible neatly fitting together like a divine jigsaw leading us nudging us forward in the grand unfolding of God’s revelation and then thinking minds endorse it he is no fool who trusts the Bible as Answers in Genesis shows as the two guys I’ve just mentioned shows you don’t have to be embarrassed to believe God’s Word can you see where this is going and human nature requires it remember the broken signpost origin plus destination equals root and our society is desperately in need of a true understanding of its origin its destination and then it’ll know how to fill in the gap in the middle the tragedy is we’ve ignored God’s Word so we have no idea what our origin is or where we’re going and we make such a dreadful mess of what lies between and then of course our Savior taught it and you cannot have any greater authority than that he believed the Old Testament was true he actually used it and when Jesus told Old Testament stories please always remember this he was not teaching little stories for the tiny children to enjoy every Old Testament historical account that Jesus referred to he was using it to bolster a doctrinal theological point check it out he’s always using it for teaching and he never doubted it and then revelation confirms it there is too much fulfilled prophecy to overlook you know some of them Isaiah 7:14 the promise of a virgin conceiving Micah 5 verse 2 the very place where he’s going to be born zechariah 9:9 riding into the city on the back of a donkey Isaiah 53 Psalm 22 as Psalm absolutely filled nobody doubts that Psalm 22 was written many centuries before Jesus was born it’s a Davidic son so it’s 900 years before Jesus was born but if you want to be a liberal critic now to this evening you still would say that Psalm 22 was written long before Jesus of Nazareth was born you read Psalm 22 when you go home tonight and see how it perfectly fits in with all that happened at Golgotha and Jesus was not in a position then to dictate the terms oh sure he rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to fulfill the prophecy he did that quite deliberately he knew what he was doing but he didn’t have much control over the soldiers at the bottom of the God of the Cross who were casting Lots for his clothes or the wagging tongues and head you read Psalm 22 and you’ll see and then of course it’s own claim demands it it is self authentication from the divine from the Almighty God the one who created the heavens and the earth and always remember self authentication is not wrong you are using it all the time every time you say I think I dreamt last night I wish I want that self event occasion our people have got to believe you or disbelieve you and the its own claim demands that you trust it and then of course the character of God secures it isn’t it unthinkable that the God who created this incredibly complex universe and our incredibly complex mind and body then walked away and left no instructions for the best use of it does that make sense and finally your personal experience illustrates it many of you here I hope all of you here have found it’s changed your life and it speaks to your circumstances whatever you need God’s Word is their speaking challenging changing you correcting you training you it is as we said right from the start a unique book and it has a unique message and it’s about a unique man keep that in mind thank you for listening so before we get to some of the questions that I’m gonna put up on the slides there was just some of the stats that I wanted to update the video was produced I think in 2007 and so talked in the towards the beginning about the Wickliffe Bible translation and they had some numbers on how many copies have been made so from last month October 2018 the Bible is now translated into six hundred and eighty three languages so that’s another like I think two hundred or so languages above what they what was in the video which reaches about 5.7 billion people in the world out of about seven point six billion people and the Nutri new testament has been translated into now a thousand five hundred and thirty-four languages which reaches an additional about seven hundred million people so that’s just some some stats for to update from what what they had in there so seeing how how far we’ve really come with different translations reaching different people groups so can we throw up the first slide so while that’s happening I’ll just read the question we could talk about it first question I had is how has your understanding of the inspiration of Scripture changed as a result of the lesson in this of all of the lessons in this unit and what was what we saw in the video how has your understanding changed or something you didn’t know before Craig just reinforced and deepened my appreciation okay so Craig had said reinforced his appreciation is for for the authorship of Scripture how how God has intended that to be done what other thoughts or different things have you been challenged on in this unit that we don’t believe these things based on all these facts but it proves to about people who are you know he is they could know they could prove that it the Bible is true and everything accurate but they could not believe it good so that’s a really good point something I was going to touch on in a different question too but we can talk about here to you is looking at what role does the Holy Spirit have in understanding scripture understanding the inspiration for Scripture or the the God breathe goodness of Scripture is a better way to put it of the fact that we can have all of these evidences for scripture for its trustworthiness its dependability but unless you have the Holy Spirit informing your understanding of that convicting you that it is from God that it is true you know there’s always going to be a point at which someone’s going to challenge it and and disregard the the truth of it unless you have that that inner working so let me actually go to so this was the question I wanted to talk about it relates to what we were just talking about when defending God’s Word it is is it more official to use presuppositional apologetics or evidential apologetics or even classical apologetics and why so before while you guys are thinking about your responses I’ll just clarify a little bit so that talks about presuppositional apologetics is the idea that you’re presupposing before you’re looking at reasoning that you’re under the assumption is another way to say that God exists and that Scripture is true those are kind of the two pieces that you’re going into it so apologetics comes from the word apology which isn’t like oh I’m sorry you know let me apologize but meaning to give a defense so defending scripture reasoning to truth so presuppositional apologetics is the idea that you’re assuming God’s real that he exists that Scripture is true and then you’re going from there to explain or to defend Scripture evidential apologetics you can probably figure out has to do with evidence that okay I need a reason I need to see the evidence the archaeology the history that proves this before I can believe it so what do you think is more beneficial to use when you’re talking about the gospel when you’re talking about scripture to unbelievers for instance because whether that prints on speaking to movies at the Bible is the Word of God or not it doesn’t change the fact that the scripture stole the Word of God in fact that the Holy Spirit uses the scriptures to convince someone so if you just speak the gospel don’t have gone the Holy Spirit wants to work so I think in a way you’re actually saying presuppositional then so evidential is talking about like okay we’re gonna go to this site and dig up you know these artifacts and because in the video he talks about Sargon King and everyone said no he doesn’t exist so that proves that the Bible is not true because it talks about this king that never existed and it wasn’t until they found evidence of Sargon that oh all of a sudden that’s something that proves the Bible then so the Bible talks about it now we have the evidence for it so that now it must be true before we couldn’t corroborate it so what and I think everything you said is good it’s true but I would I would also put that under the presupposition on that you have to go to Scripture itself to talk about it so I think most of us at least can agree that presuppositional apologetics is is more beneficial because that’s what God’s going to use to bring people to faith you know if you’re going to scripture and sharing God’s Word and saying this is what it says and here’s what it says and this is how you can believe this that’s what God can use as an instrument of salvation evidential apologetics I think has a role but not necessarily in salvation like we talked about you can talk about the historical record you can talk to people in the field that aren’t believers and they might agree on a point or two but that’s gonna be enough to to convince them that this is true and that they need to believe and repent and believe so yes Steve they didn’t have to wait for evidence and those are those cases to that by the way it’s not out of the character and nature of God when it didn’t happen because they repented and that’s God’s nature so when he preached don’t get all hung up on the fact that didn’t happen they repent and that’s God’s nature to not let it happen but he preached it as though it was presuppositional it’s gonna happen and that’s really what we do and we let God take care of the rest appreciate that so what role then let’s talk about this a little bit what role can evidential apologetics play for us as Christians how can we use that what role can we can we have or evidential apologetics as we’re talking to believers or unbelievers talk about it and then use that to get to the gospel you eventually go from the change conversation from the science the evidence and you go the description okay so for those that might not have heard that rob was saying that you can use evidential pologize kind of as a talking point a starter starting place someone that might be curious about or challenge challenging you on it you know that’s not true or the you know the Scriptures not true or you know there’s 100 it was copied and copied and mistakes were made and you can use that as a starting point say hey you know that’s actually not sure here are some of the facts we have for this but then your goal what would be to kind of get into actual Scripture to make sure you’re you’re hitting home what other role might evidential apologetics play for a Christian great so every time like CNN user who came out about like oh this is a new evidence a little shaky yeah I think you know Scripture is true and archeology is true too you know as we find evidences in history in in records also you know artifacts it does corroborate what we see in Scripture you know and and that can definitely be reassuring to someone who might be new who might be you know challenged by some of the pushback that they have against the gospel I know for me something Craig gets said at the beginning you know that it’s kind of even encouraging to a mature believer too that you believe this and you’re convicted by the Holy Spirit but then there’s also you know it’s kind of that also there’s also all of this evidence that hey you know what you’re studying here it is you know that there there’s physical evidence to of of of your faith you know that as as we move on you see more and more you know hundred years ago they didn’t have some of the artifacts that corroborate Scripture that we have today you know and so they were obviously the faith was the important piece but you know and then you can see these things being excavated being cataloged and you can say wow you know here’s here’s even more reason to believe you know it can be encouraging that way I know I for one being a historian being a history major you know that’s something that’s really cool to me you know to to be able to tangibly see hey you know I believe this and and here’s also where intersect with what we’re talking about so going to another question what passages of Scripture are most encouraging to you as you consider your trust in the Bible so this is definitely a personalized question you know something that you can respond to maybe something as you’re sharing about scripture about its trustworthiness maybe something you go to that you use could be something that was mentioned in any of the lessons or in the video or something that something else you have but what passages do you find most encouraging just hearing that truth this is true so I’m looking at the truth claims of the scripture and seeing how they’re fulfilled second Timothy 3:16 and I’d liked what he said in the video that a better translation is god-breathed because sometimes when I think I’m inspired I think that Oh Shakespeare was inspired to write this wonderful play whereas God breathes it’s coming from God to us so actually that’s the verse when I’m sharing the gospel with students that you know I take them to first and say you know what scripture comes right from God’s God I know for me that’s definitely one that I use I like also verse 17 which follows so I’ll just read it real quick all scriptures this is 16 and 17 all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be a complete may be complete equipped for every good work so that’s the ESV translation but I like the fullness of that statement and it’s so definitely something I use when I’m sharing the gospel kind of establishing that that groundwork for scriptures true because chances are when you’re sharing the gospel with an unbeliever there’s going to be a point where there oh well you know I might agree with this but not with that and and I always go to this not only to show that Scripture is breathed out by God that that’s where it comes from that’s the source but also the completeness of the source that it’s profitable for teaching all of Scripture you know that’s what it starts with in verse 16 is all scripture and in all of Scripture is profitable for teaching for reproof for correcting and for training and righteousness that there’s not a piece of it that oh that’s not as useful you know that part we can ignore and we’ll just focus on the the you know Jesus was a moral teacher kind of perspective that a lot of people do oh well yeah this piece is great but you know that piece that I disagree with that’s not good and I’ll use that scripture you know and say know what it’s saying is not only is the source from God but all of it is good for teaching there’s not a piece of it that not good for teaching and that the goal you know in verse 17 is that man can be completely equipped for every good work that there’s a direct reason for studying Scripture for being in Scripture that it it fills out our ability to do our job as Christians anybody have other passages that they are encouraged by err that they use yeah because clear but to come up with something like that or someone would just read that up on their own does it absolutely impossible II has officer absolutely astronomical and anyone looking at that scripture you can go almost you know any atheists on the screen Street read Isaiah 53 and pass back who that is speaking about them instantly they will tell you that’s talking about Jesus Christ back in the form of said I would use that scripture yes that’s great so just to kind of summarize for those that might not have heard Roy was saying Isaiah 53 mostly because it shows this revelation that you know people could try to poke holes in but because it’s been so completely fulfilled in Christ and his his work on the cross that it doesn’t leave room for you to question it this is someone writing hundreds of years before the events that it’s talking about happen and that it’s not corroborated by one person’s actions it’s not just I think he talked about in the video it’s not just you know Christ riding into town on the donkey but that it’s all of its actions that he couldn’t have even taken himself or or have orchestrated himself that were completed and it just completes that vision that you see in Isaiah 53 and that can be really encouraging to the believer but also a really good tool for convincing other people of the truth of Scripture so there’s one last question we’re gonna have time to look at how would you person and this is more of an application question but how would you personally explain the inspiration of the Bible to someone who’s questioning its validity who’s a skeptic how would you use any of the stuff that we’ve covered in this unit any of the stuff we learned in the video or that you’ve heard in our discussion how can you directly use that for having that conversation yes I like the verse on Peter I say just Peter because I can’t remember exactly where so but it’s it’s you know men were moved carried along it was a long statement there it’s really good I have to find that and just try to memorize it but you know it’s it says that you know God use the people in their own language and their own culture with their own minds with their own Flair with their own personalities but overrode that to get his message I’m summarizing I really liked that that kind of just stuck with it covers a lot of arguments that people might have yeah I know that’s definitely a challenge when you are having that conversation about inspiration okay well what does that mean you know so did God just you know kind of brain control them and you know write down what he wanted or did they get chance to and how does that work and you know and then obviously free will usually gets brought into that conversation too so I thought it was a very I thought he also put it very succinctly – I was thinking the exact same thing when I watched the video the first time I was like I kind of used that Clint you know when I’m talking to someone just read exactly what he said because it just made sense you know it’ll laid it out very clearly I think the past you were talking about second Peter 1:20 any left yeah the following are the exactly comedians so I’d be an other analogy that you use in your slang kind of that dual role of the individual personality that is putting direction I definitely appreciate all of your input I really encourage you guys to you know think about what we’ve talked about in this unit you know kind of you could talk about it as apologetics I spent some time yesterday if everyone I don’t know if everyone saw the email but I had a list of different resources you can look at from Answers in Genesis also from the crippled gate blog and then there’s two others one from desiring God from John Piper and one from Karen that talked about you know the how you can evidence the truth of Scripture some talk about physical evidence kind of evidential apologetics but some of it also specifically talked about the role that the Holy Spirit has and so if you didn’t have a chance to look at those I really encourage you to read through read through those and and put them into practice you know that you are sharing Scripture in a way that you’re convincing people not through what we see but through what is true what’s God’s Word and there’s just a little anecdote that I’ve used sometimes when I’m sharing about the truth of Scripture you know to people who might not believe it is you know you have an oncoming bus you know hurtling down the street and you step out into the street and no matter how much you believe that you’re not going to get hit by that bus when it comes you’re gonna get hit you’re gonna get struck in your and you’re gonna die and so you know that’s just an analogy that I use you know that I talk about that you know convincing people that it doesn’t matter what you believe what you think to be true if something is true Scripture is true whether you believe that to be true or not it is going to come to pass it is going to happen so you know it’s important to have these conversations it’s important to talk about the validity of scripture to defend you know in using the word apologetic to defend what God’s Word says what it what it what it is and what it’s not and to have that conversation so I just encourage you guys to to use those resources to really put into practice what we’ve been looking at as we continue to study through the through the bottle the answers Bible curriculum as we start to get into the New Testament now after this unit I mean the Old Testament after this unit so I’m just gonna pray to close our time if you have any other questions feel free to email me or Dave or both of us but let’s just go to the Lord in prayer father God we thank you that your word is truth Lord that you have given us divine Direction divine inspiration divine words Lord that we know that everything that is included in Scripture is profitable that it is beneficial that we can use it in every way in every passage for teaching for reproof for correction and for training and righteousness Lord and that you use Scripture to equip the believer Lord we pray that the hearts and the minds of unbelievers that you would unveil them to the truth of Scripture Lord I pray for everyone here everyone that’s listening that you would create in them a desire to be stewards of your word to to study how true your word is and to be ready and equipped to share that with with anyone that they come in conversation with that it can be encouraging in fellowship with other believers and that it can be convicting in conversation with unbelievers Lord and I pray that we would all go home learning and knowing something that we didn’t know before as we look at your word as we look to understand more about who you are as a holy and righteous God we just lift this to you and your sons righteous name