Apologetics in Scripture

Unbelievers often contest the authenticity of the Gospels based on hearsay from those who contend that the Bible is inaccurate. Thus, it is necessary to provide substantiating evidence to prove their accuracy and to refute conflicting evidence that might prevent unbelievers from coming to faith in Christ. There are three primary avenues of proof that can be helpful in this endeavor-the witness of believable people, the historical record, and scientific and archaeological evidence that supports the truth of the Gospel.

The witness of believable people starts with that of Christ Himself. Christ is generally accepted as having lived and as being both truthful and intelligent, even by those that do not believe in the Christian faith. As Ernest L. Martin points out, "The central proof of the Bible is Christ." A strong case can be made for the authenticity of the Bible simply on the fact that Jesus quoted it in numerous places. In Isaiah 29:13, for example, the prophet writes "...this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men," and in Mark 7:6 and 7, Jesus quotes Isaiah, saying, "This people honoureth me with [their] lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men" ("Jesus Quotes," KJV). There are many other examples of such quotes by Jesus from the Old Te

Related Essays

Paul Among Jews & Gentiles .... Rather, it is simply one preacher's viewpoint supported only by scripture. .... the academic sphere and relegates it to the dreary realm of Christian apologetics. .... (1074 4 )

Christology: The Role of Jesus .... heard of the troubles you are experiencing in your scripture class at .... Center for Reformed Theory and Apologetics, "Institutes of the Christian Religion," John .... (1412 6 )

Philosophy from a Christian Perspective The purpose of this resear .... of will and determinism in terms of faith; the danger is that apologetics can become .... view, one may have faith based on what an author of scripture was seeking .... (5941 24 )

The School of Antioch in Development of Christianity .... in supporting the view that "every word of scripture contained a .... the differences between Christian and Jewish worldviews in their apologetics shows, Chrysostom .... (4870 19 )

Skepticism I. INTRODUCTION 1. Objective of essa .... is not even philosophy, but instead it is a form of apologetics for theological .... Perhaps the writers of Scripture felt it to be foolish to prove God's existence .... (2097 8 )

Weldon). History is a friend of the Bible, as "it is not only a demonstrable historical fact that Jesus lived and taught what the New Testament says He lived and taught, it is also a fact that the bible is the best-documented and most accurately preserved book of ancient history" (Ankerberg & Weldon). As Ankerberg and Weldon point out, "That means we can trust what the authors say as true." Renowned Jewish archaeologist Nelson Glueck wrote, "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference" and asserted "the most incredibly accurate historical memory of the Bible, and particularly so when it is fortified by archaeological fact" (Cook). Millar Burrows of Yale observes, "Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics. It has shown in a number of instances that these views rest on false assumptions and unreal, artificial schemes of historical development. This is a real contribution, and not to be minimized" (Cook). Sir Frederic Kenyon has said, "The evidence of archaeology has been to re-establish its authority, and likewise to augment its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and setting" (Cook

Category: Philosophy -