1

Apologetics for Local Church Outreach: Creating a Forum to Press the Antithesis

Ken Brown Senior Pastor, Community Bible Church, Trenton, MI

“Apologetics is the vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life.”1 The ultimate aim of biblical apologetics is to move the unbeliever to embrace the biblical worldview. The apologist uses his tools – pressing the antithesis, demonstrating the impossibility of the contrary, identifying the ‘stolen’ capital the unbeliever has pilfered from the biblical worldview, pointing out the unbeliever’s culpable ignorance, etc. – all in the prayerful hope that the Holy Spirit will bless those efforts and grant spiritual life. After all, “man is blind with respect to the truth wherever the truth appears”2 and “no sinner can interpret reality aright.”3

But if the unbeliever’s incapacity is so extreme (and it is), then on what basis can appeal be made? And, how can the church, corporately, engage the unbeliever in a meaningful way, given the stark contrast between believer-unbeliever, church-world, light-darkness, truth-error, etc.? This workshop will make the case that these challenges are met when we 1) know the subject matter of apologetics, 2) know the audience for apologetics, and 3) create a forum for apologetics.

I. The Subject Matter of Apologetics: The Biblical Worldview

A. The importance of worldview

Everybody has a worldview, however most people obtain theirs by unconsciously absorbing it from the culture rather than consciously adopting it from Scripture. Identifying and mastering the components of the Christian worldview will strengthen the faith of our people and help them to detect and refute error.

1 Cornelius Van Til, as quoted in Greg Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic: Readings and Analysis (P & R Publishing, 1998), p. 34. 2 Ibid., p. 412. 3 Ibid.

2

[Christians have gradually] become disturbed over permissiveness, pornography, the public schools, the breakdown of the family, and finally abortion. But they have not seen this as a totality – each thing being a part, a symptom of a much larger problem. They failed to see that all of this has come about due to a shift in the worldview – that is, through a fundamental change in the overall way people think and view the world and life as a whole.4 B. A definition of worldview

A worldview is a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is a framework through which one makes sense of the data of life and the world.5

C. The consequences of worldview

Ideas have consequences. Belief determines behavior. Jesus said, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34). Examples of the vital role of worldview can be seen in political science:

[The Founding Fathers] looked to their own Christian heritage of the idea of original sin, [and] they found confirmation of the notion that man is a unregenerate rebel who has to be controlled. They were inordinately confident that they knew what man always had been and what he always would be…private vices could be public benefits … an economically beneficent result would be providentially or ‘naturally” achieved if self-interest were left free from state interference and allowed to pursue its ends. (Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition)

Ideas have real world consequences … human nature is not infinitely changeable but rather has its own laws. Therefore, there is a right life for man, a life in accord with our nature … It isn’t a given of nature that people retrain their aggression, beget and nurture their offspring in marriage, exercise foresight, calculate rationally, or work to improve their condition. The wonder is not that people don’t do it, but rather that they do… So,… it makes sense to ask … how society fosters people that dependably work and marry and are capable of rational calculation; how culture takes the aggressive, egotistical raw material of human nature each of us is born with and develops in it conscience, reason, and duty. (Myron Magnet, The Dream and the Nightmare, pp. 5, 28)

D. The scope of the biblical worldview

1. The Creator/Creature distinction This would include authority and the necessity of revelation.

4 Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, p. 17. 5 Norman Geisler and William Watkins quoted in David Noebel, Understanding the Times (Summit Minitries).

3

2. The Fall

The entrance of sin into the human race and its continuing effects explains the morning headlines, relational struggles, psychological problems, intellectual foolishness, etc.

3. Redemption

The antidote to the Fall. Coupled with Creation and Fall, this requires the grace of God because a) God is the Standard of righteousness (Creation) and b) we cannot meet the Standard (Fall).

4. Purpose

Given #1 above, the purpose of life is God-centered. However, the means by which that purpose is carried out is given by progressive revelation. We must take time and explain to our people the purpose God has for us in this age. Man is personally confronted with the Lord of the covenant – His divine character and His holy will – in all of creation. As Van Til maintains, “God is man’s ultimate environment … The surrounding presence of God’s person makes it impossible for man to take a ‘moral holiday.’ Always and everywhere, in whatever he does and thinks as a scientist, philosopher, or theologian, whether learned or unlearned, man acts either as a covenant-keeper or a covenant- breaker.”6 The Bible is … authoritative on everything of which it speaks. Moreover, it speaks of everything … either directly or by implication.7

II. The Audience for Apologetics: God’s Image-Bearers All people, by virtue of being creatures made in the image of the Creator, have knowledge of God and of His rightful claim upon their lives. Romans 1:18-22 teaches three foundational truths about all people that the apologist must always bear in mind: A. People know God. The apostle Paul speaks of the natural man as actually possessing the knowledge of God (Rom. 1:19–21). The greatness of his sin lies precisely in the fact that, according to v. 21: “When they knew [literally, “the”] God, they glorified him

6 Van Til, quoted in Thom Notaro, Van Til and the Use of Evidence, (P & R Publishing, 1980), p. 32-33. 7 Ibid., p. 23-24.

4

not as God.” No man can escape knowing God. It is indelibly involved in his awareness of anything whatsoever.8 How is it that Paul can say that all people know God?: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. This reminds us of the words of Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. John Frame says, God has revealed Himself to each person with unmistakable clarity, both in creation and in man’s own nature … The unbeliever knows God. At some level of his consciousness or unconsciousness, that knowledge remains.9 Van Til says, We present the message and evidence for the Christian position as clearly as possible, knowing that because man is what the Christian says he is, the non-Christian will be able to understand in an intellectual sense the issues involved.10 B. People do not want to know God. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness … they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. (Romans 1:18, 28) Deep down in his mind every man knows that he is the creature of God and responsible to God. Every man, at bottom, knows that he is a covenant breaker. But every man acts and talks as though this were not so. It is the one point that cannot bear mentioning in his presence.11 C. People are fools. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. (Romans 1:22) Foolishness is not ignorance. Foolishness is failure to apply what is known:

8 Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith (P & R Publishing, 1967), p. 92. 9 John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God (P & R Publishing, 1994), pp. 7-8. 10 http://www.reformed.org/apologetics/index.html?mainframe=/apologetics/My_Credo_van_til.html, accessed October 13, 2017. 11 Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, p. 94.

5

The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ (Psalm 14:1) It is not only that men ought to know God. All men do know God. The problem is that sinners do not know God as they ought.12 III. A Forum for Apologetics: The Local Church There was a time when the Sunday evening service was an evangelistic service. However, for most of our churches the Sunday evening service ceased to be evangelistic long ago. Further, many of our churches have not found a replacement. Willow Creek developed the ‘Seeker Service’ to address this need, but has done so at the wrong time (in effect, replacing worship) and in the wrong way (marketing, entertainment, etc.).13 This section will make the case for having a regular time in our structure to address unbelievers, without the compromise of the Willow Creek model. A. The Biblical Pattern Pritchard observes:

We see in the Scriptures that Jesus regularly taught many people who were not yet his disciples. A good deal of his ministry was public teaching on hillsides and at street corners… Likewise the apostle Paul regularly interacted with nonbelieving Jews and Greeks in whatever public forum was available. Acts 17:17 records that Paul “reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.” In Ephesus, Paul had daily discussions in a public lecture hall for two years with the effect that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” Paul used a variety of public settings to proclaim and explain the gospel to his audiences.14

B. The historical precedent

We see throughout church history the same willingness to use a variety of public settings to communicate the gospel. George Whitfield and John Wesley initiated open-air preaching in the eighteenth century as a useful public forum to communicate the gospel. Many individuals criticized them for this shocking method of preaching outside of churches. As Wesley explains, “I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation.” This

12 Notaro, p. 33. 13 For a devastating critique of the Willow Creek model, see G.A. Pritchard, Willow Creek Seeker Services (Baker, 1996), pp. 187-287. 14 Ibid., p. 188. See Acts 14:1; 17:1-3; 18:4, 28; and 19:8-10.

6

innovation proved to be very fruitful as tens of thousands came to hear and respond to the Gospel.15

C. Discovering God - A Contemporary Model Having a regular time to communicate with unbelievers is a good idea. However, the worship service is the wrong time to do it because worship is for believers (unbelievers, by definition, cannot worship!). Given that, in our culture, most are inclined to consider spiritual matters on Sunday morning, we thought it wise to offer a service on Sunday morning, separate from worship, at which we could address unbelievers. The result is the Discovering God hour. 1. Discovering God begins at 11:00, contemporaneous with Sunday School. 2. The setting is a classroom atmosphere. 3. The presentation is “guest sensitive”: a. Care is taken to communicate in language the unbeliever can understand b. The unbeliever is invited to come informally c. No offering is taken d. There is no music e. Topics are chosen to address the unbeliever:

o What’s the Difference? – An examination of the differences between world religions

o What’s the Difference? – An examination of the differences between denominations

o You Mean the Bible Teaches That? – An examination of the Bible’s teaching on ethical issues

o Why You Can Trust the Bible? – An examination of the origin and uniqueness of the Bible

o Meant to Last/Marriage Matters – An examination of the Bible’s teaching on marriage

o Parenting With Purpose – An examination of the Bible’s teaching on parenting

o Big Bang or Big God? – An examination of the competing views on origins – Creation versus Evolution

15 Ibid.

7

o What’s the World Coming To? – An examination of the Bible’s teaching on end times

o Answering the Tough Ones – An examination of the Bible’s answer to common objections

These and other topics are addressed with a presuppositional approach that presses the antithesis between the unbeliever’s worldview and that of Scripture. For instance, when evaluating the claims of competing world religions, the unbeliever is confronted with his relativistic approach to truth as Christ is proclaimed to be “the way, the truth, and the life.” The Marriage Matters course confronts the unbeliever with the fact that he’s using the “stolen capital” of the biblical worldview by using God’s institution for his own purposes. And, of course, Christ is presented as the remedy for these noetic and moral sins.