IN DEFENSE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

I.          INTRODUCTION:

Thesis:  Belief in and following Jesus as Messiah is the superior system of values, principles and priorities that best benefit society and best benefit individuals. 

Reality:  Once you get away from your parents and the “Biblical bubble” you have been living in for most of your life, you will find that today’s culture will attempt to rob you of everything Biblical.  You will be challenged and made to look like a fool if you attempt to stand up for anything Biblical—unless you are prepared and understand what you are about to be thrust into.  There is a cultural battle for your heart and mind.  There will be a calculated effort to dissuade you from continuing to have a Biblical worldview. [Charlie Galvin story]. 

There are two basic worldviews: (1) Secular-Humanism and (2) Biblical worldview.

The god of humanism is thought and human reasoning.  Why is it so easy for a humanist professor to back a Christian student into a corner?  Because the Christian student isn’t prepared to rationally communicate Biblical ideas to a secular world. Why?  Because Christians take the Bible as true and don’t have to think (i.e., God said it, so it’s true--and there is nothing wrong with that as long as you can continue to live in a Biblical bubble).  But humanist have a problem with that approach because it violates their god (which is thought and reasoning).  Thought and reasoning is the language of the secular-humanist.  So to speak persuasively to a humanist and to defend your own faith under questioning, you must appeal to thought and reasoning.

This is what the first Christians did:  “reasoning in the synagogue…trying to persuade” (Acts 18:4); “demonstrating by the Scriptures [specific Old Testament prophecies] that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:28); “reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8); “reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:9).

II.        WHY DEFEND THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW:

1. “Always being ready to make a defense to every one who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence….”  1 Peter 3:15.

2. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”  Hosea 4:6

3. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”  Colossians 2:8

4. “Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument.”  Colossians 2:2-4

5. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  2 Corinthians 4:4

6. “But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”  2 Corinthians 3:16

7. “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:31-32.

III.       SUPPORT FOR THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW BY APPEALING TO THOUGHT AND REASONING:

• SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE:

• Evidence: “Testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact.” Black’s Law Dictionary.

• In Courts, a jury is not asked to decide with 100% certainty what the true facts are. 

• Preponderance of the evidence:  “A standard of proof (used in many civil suits) which is met when a party’s evidence on a fact indicates that it is ‘more likely than not’ that the fact is as the party alleges it to be.”  Black’s Law Dictionary.  Under this test, it does not require 100% certainty.

• Beyond a reasonable doubt: The standard used in criminal cases. Even under this stricter test, it does not require 100% certain.

• When someone is convicted of a crime in a criminal case or held liable for damages in a civil case, there is no certainty that the decision is correct.  And, the law does not require certainty; only a weighing of the evidence.  Juries and Judges have to take a leap of faith to reach a decision.

• All exercise faith.  To reach a belief or decision on anything, faith fills in where evidence ends.

• When you sit down, you are exercising faith that the chair will hold you—there is no certainty.  You don’t have 100% of all facts about that chair.  It requires the exercise of some faith.

• Atheists have faith.  I do not have enough faith to be an atheist.  Consider the order of the world and universe.  Consider the intricacy of the eye.

• Attorney story:  I had an agnostic attorney friend.  We once were eating in a restaurant under a beautiful painting.  My friend was admiring the painting.  And  I said to him, “to believe that all things we see around us just happened without a creator is like saying that painting happened without an artist.

• Sir Isaac Newton created a machine that accurately portrayed the rotations of the planets.  You would use a hand-crank to wind up the machine and the various planets would start moving around the sun circularly in their proper orbits.  While he was still working on the invention, and before he introduced it to the world, one of his atheist friends dropped in, saw the ingenious contraption, began turning the crank and was amazed.  When Sir Isaac Newton walked into the room, the atheist friend proclaimed, “Sir Isaac, who created this marvelous machine?  And with a twinkle in his eye, Newton answered his atheist friend, “Oh, no one created it, it just happened one day.” 

• Wrist Watch example:  If I were walking along the beach and happened upon a wrist watch washed up on the shore, would it be logical (based on probabilities) for me to believe that the sand, wind, waves, and long passage of time all worked together to create the wrist watch?  Or, would I naturally presume (based on evidence that is evident) that the wrist watch was created by a watch-maker.  If it is logical to believe that a watch is made by a watch-maker isn’t it just as logical to believe that an eye (much more complex than a watch) is made by an eye-maker?

• No one should hold the Biblical worldview to a less or greater standard of proof than for anything else we judge in life.  We do not have to reach certainty to believe that something is true.  But we should look carefully at the evidence and then measure it against probabilities (just as in a criminal or civil case).  So, as with judging anything else, our attitude should be "show the evidence, let me weigh it, and then I will decide."  So, let us examine some of the evidence and rationale:

1.         QUESTION ONE:  WHAT RELIABLE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE IS THERE, OTHER THAN THE BIBLE, THAT JESUS LIVED OR THAT ANYTHING DESCRIBED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ACTUALLY OCCURRED?

ANSWER:  IN ADDITION TO THE BIBLE, THERE ARE OTHER RELIABLE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURY HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO JESUS, THE CRUCIFIXION, UNEXPLAINED DARKNESS THAT OCCURRED DURING THE CRUCIFIXION, JESUS’ BROTHER JAMES, CHRISTIANS, AND CHRISTIANITY: 

A.        FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS (Born 37 A.D.; first century Jewish/Roman historian.  He was a Pharisee.  In 66 A.D. he was the commander of Jewish forces in Galilee but surrendered to the Roman general Vespasian.  After being captured, he was attached to the Roman headquarters. He authored The Antiquities, which was a history of the Jewish people from Creation to his time):

1. “About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly.  He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him.  On the third day he appeared to them restored to live, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him.  And the tribe of Christians, so called after him has still to this day not disappeared.” The Antiquities 18.63-64 (this passage is known as the Testimonium Flavianum).

2. “But the younger Ananus who, as we said, received the high priesthood, was of a bold disposition and exceptionally daring…he thought he had now a good opportunity, as Festus was now dead…so he assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be stoned.”  Antiquities 20.200.

B.         THALLUS (Samaritan-born historian; in 52 A.D. wrote a history of the eastern Mediterranean world since the Trojan War. No existing copies of original writings, but other writers have cited to writings of Thallus.  Around 221 A.D., Julius Africanus cited writings of Thallus regarding the darkness that fell on the earth, as follows):

1. “`Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun—unreasonably, as it seems to me.’” [Unreasonably, of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, and it was at the season of the Paschal full moon that Christ died]. 

C.        PHLEGON (First Century Historian; Greek Author writing soon after 137 A.D., reported that in the fourth year of the 202^nd Olympiad (i.e., 33 A.D.) wrote Olympiades he Chronika, much of which are not extant but are cited by other writers):

1. “During the time of Tiberius Caesar an eclipse of the sun occurred during the full moon.”  Cited by Julius Africanus.

2. [In the fourth year of the 202^nd Olympiad, there was] “the greatest eclipse of the sun.”  “It became night in the sixth hour of the day [i.e., 12:00 noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens.  There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea.”  Cited from a fragment from Phlegon, Olympiades he Chronika 13 ed.

3. “And about this darkness…Phlegon recalls it in the Olympiads….  Phlegon mentioned the eclipse which took place during the crucifixion of the Lord Christ…and this is shown by the historical account itself of Tiberius Caesar.”  Philopon (De. opif. mund. II 21)

D.        CORNELIUS TACITUS (Born 52-54 A.D.; Roman Historian; Governor of Asia in 112 A.D.  In 115 A.D. he wrote that Nero persecuted the Christians as scapegoats to divert suspicion away from himself for the great fire that burned Rome in 64 A.D.  Confirms Jesus as a historical figure who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, that the movement was based on a crucified man, and that an “immense multitude was convicted” in Rome showing the quick spread of Christianity):

1. “Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.  Christus, from whom the name had its origin , suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of onw of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome….  Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty:  then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.”  Annals 15.44.

E.         LUCIAN OF SAMOSATA (around 100 -199 A.D.); a satirist of the second century:

1. “Christ…the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world….  Furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they were all brothers one of another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws.”  The Passing Peregrinus.

F.         SUETONIUS (A.D. 120; Roman historian; court official under Hadrian, annalist of the Imperial House):

1. “As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus [another spelling of Christus], he expelled them from Rome.”  Life of Claudius 25.4.

2. “Punishment by Nero was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition.”  Lives of the Caesars, 26.2

G.        PLINEY THE YOUNGER (Roman; Governor of Bithynia in northwestern Turkey in 112 A.D.; corresponded with his friend, Emperor Trajan; following written about 111 A.D. Following quote shows rapid spread of Christianity in city and rural areas among every class, including slaves, and that they worshiped Jesus as God, maintained high ethical standards, and were not easily swayed from their beliefs):

1. “I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them.  If they persist, I order them to be led away for execution; for, whatever the nature of their admission, I am convinced that their stubbornness and unshakable obstinacy ought not to go unpunished….

They also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this:  they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternatively amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery….

This made me decide it was all the more necessary to extract the truth by torture from two slave-women, whom they called deaconesses.  I found nothing but a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths.”  Epistles 10.96.

H.        JUSTIN MARTYR (written around 150 A.D. referring to Pilate’s report during a speech to Emperor Antoninus Pius, in Defense of Christianity):

1. “’They pierced my hands and my feet’ are a description of the nails that were fixed in His hands and His feet on the cross; and after He was crucified, those who crucified Him cast lost for His garments, and divided them among themselves; and that these things were so, you may learn from the ‘Acts’ of Pontius Pilate.”  Apology 1.48

I.          TERTULLLIAN (Jurist and theologian of Carthage; in a defense of Christianity (197 A.D.) before the Roman authorities in Africa):

1. The darkness over the earth during the crucifixion was visible in Rome, Athens, and Mediterranean cities.  According to Tertullian, it was a “cosmic” or “world event.”

2. “Tiberius accordingly, in those days the Christian name made its entry into the world, having himself received intelligence from the truth of Christ’s divinity, brought the matter before the senate, with his own decision in favor of Christ.  The senate, because it had not given the approval itself, rejected his proposal.  Caesar held to his opinion, threatening wrath against all the accusers of the Christians.”  Apology, V. 2.

J.          JEWISH TALMUD (100-500 A.D.):

1. “On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu [or Nazareth] and the herald went before him for forty days saying [Yeshu of Nazareth] is going forth to be stoned in that he hath practiced sorcery and beguiled and led astray Israel.  But they found naught in his defence and hanged him on the eve of Passover.”   Babylonia Sanhedrin 43a.

2.          QUESTION TWO:    CAN THE NEW TESTAMENT BE RELIED UPON AS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE?

            ANSWER:       USE A COMPARISON TEST

The New Testament claims for itself to be an accurate and historical account of actual events and persons.  There are no living eye witnesses to any historical events that occurred more than about 125 years ago.  Thus, most all of what we call “history” depends upon written accounts of others and the accuracy of those accounts.  This is particularly true of events occurring in antiquity.

The historical reliability of the New Testament should be tested under the same standard that all other historical documents are tested.  The Bible should be held to no higher and no lower a standard.  This is a comparison of the New Testament to other books of antiquity:

3.       QUESTION THREE:  HOW DO YOU KNOW JESUS IS THE MESSIAH AND WHAT JESUS SAID IS TRUE?

ANSWER:  IF SOMEONE WERE TRYING TO LOCATE YOU, THEY WOULD WANT YOUR ADDRESS.  OUT OF ALL THE UNIVERSE, EVERYONE HAS A UNIQUE ADDRESS: GALAXY (MILKY WAY), STAR SYSTEM (SOLAR), PLANET (EARTH), CONTINENT (NORTH AMERICA), NATION (UNITED STATES), STATE (TEXAS), COUNTY (HARRIS COUNTY), CITY (HOUSTON), SUBDIVISION (MEMORIAL), STREET (SMITHDALE), STREET NUMBER (#125), FLOOR (2^ND), TURN LEFT OR RIGHT WHEN ENTER, HOW MANY DOORS DOWN, ON LEFT OR RIGHT, SIDE OF ROOM (LEFT)—16 ASPECTS OF ADDRESS. 

 SIMILARLY, THE OLD TESTAMENT GAVE US THE “ADDRESS” OF THE MESSIAH SO WE COULD LOCATE HIM.  THIS WAS DONE THROUGH PROPHECIES.  THE FIRST BELIEVERS DID NOT HAVE THE NEW TESTAMENT BUT ONLY THE OLD TESTAMENT TO USE TO DETERMINE IF JESUS MET ALL THE CRITERIA TO BE THE MESSIAH.  THESE ARE SOME OF THE PROPHECIES (GIVING US THE MESSIAH’S ADDRESS IN TIME, PLACE, AND HISTORY):
 

In the previous four prophecies we find in both prophecy and fulfillment the following:
1.      Betrayed
2.      By a friend (not an enemy)
3.      For 30 pieces (not 29)
4.      Of silver (not gold, not copper, not bronze)
5.      Thrown down (not placed or handed to)
6.      In the House of the Lord (not in the street, not in the marketplace)
7.      Money used to buy potter’s field (a specific piece of property in Jerusalem)