The Church in a Post-Christian Culture (part II)

1. The Church in a Post-Christian Culture(part II) How Shall We Now Live?

2. How Shall We Now Live? Recognize that history is moving towards its pre-ordained end and God is in control. - Matthew 24: 3-14 - 2 Timothy 3: 1-17

3. How Shall We Now Live? Misguided worship (false idols- affluence, comfort) Misguided focus on numerical growth over discipleship Misguided embrace of Liberal theology & a social gospel Misguided motivation for political influence Repent of our own failings as the church.

4. God is either the main thing or He is nothing. Matthew 6: 33 “If we put first things first, we get second things thrown in, but if we put second things first, we lose both the first and second things.”- C.S. Lewis

5. How Shall We Now Live? 1 Peter - 3 Admonitions: Holiness… as opposed to enculturation, 1 Peter 1: 14-19 3. Recommit to living Gospel-oriented lives.

6. “Where does Christianity destroy itself in a given generation? It destroys itself by not living in the light, by professing a truth it does not obey.”- A.W. Tozer

7. How Shall We Now Live? 1 Peter - 3 Admonitions: Holiness… as opposed to enculturation, 1 Peter 1: 14-19 3. Recommit to living Gospel-oriented lives. Humility… as opposed to confrontation, 1 Peter 3: 9-17 Hope… as opposed to desperation, 1 Peter 5: 6-11

8. The Church in a Post-Christian Culture How Shall We Now Contend? Acts 1:8 - Jude 3 – 1 Peter 3:15 – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

9. Remember: You can win the intellectual battle yet lose the war for a person’s heart! How you do apologetics is as important as the words expressed (1 Peter 3:15).

10. The primary apologetic challenges in today’s Post-Christian America: Naturalism - Has science made God irrelevant? - If there is a God, has He spoken? Postmodernism - The nature of truth - The new tolerance - Religious pluralism & universalism

11. “God Is Dead” Naturalism: “There is no supernatural; Science is adequate to explain all Reality.” Humanism: “There is no God; man is a product of evolution; man is inherently good and can create a Utopia on earth.” God * All that exists is the finite, three dimensional, natural world. Man

12. Both Naturalistic Evolutionists & the advocates of I.D. have the same scientific evidence • The question is: • How do you interpret the evidence? • Does the evidence better fit the I.D. model or the model of Naturalism? • Is it more logical, rational, and scientific to believe in Naturalistic evolution or I.D.?

13. In the Beginning ?

14. “naturalism is on hard times in cosmology; the deeper you get into it, the harder it is to get rid of the God hypothesis. Taken together, the Big Bang and general relativity provide a scientific description of what Christians call creation ex nihilo- creation out of nothing.” - Stephen Meyer, PhD Cambridge Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute

15. “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the first five books of Moses, the Psalms and the Bible as a whole.” - Arno Penzias, PHD in Astrophysics andNobel Prize winner speaking on the origin of the universe

16. The Origin of Life? Spontaneous Generation vs. BIOGENESIS: Life only arises from life- A basic Law of Biology

17. Richard Hutton, producer of the PBS series “Evolution”, on the fundamental flaw of Naturalistic Evolution… “There are open questions and controversies, and the fights can be fierce. Just a few of them: The origin of life. There is no consensus at all here- lots of theories, little science. That’s one of the reasons we didn’t cover it in the series. The evidence wasn’t very good.” - Washington Post Online Forum 9/01/01

18. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” - Romans 1:20

19. Has God Spoken? The Bible (Canon of Scripture): 66 books 40 different authors Written over 1500 years 3 languages 3 continents

20. The Incredible Unity of Scripture! Genesis to Revelation- One Common Theme - God’s love & redemptive plan for us No Contradictions No Historical Errors “All Scripture is inspired by God”- 2 Timothy 3:16

21. What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism? Point out that the Postmodern view of TRUTH is self-defeating & inconsistent with reality.

22. What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism? Explain that Postmodern relativism removes any possibility of judgment or condemnation. Examples… The Nazis or 9/11 hijackers

23. What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism? 3. Clarify the traditional definition of “tolerance” as opposed to the “new tolerance”.

24. What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism? 4. When asked your position on a controversial topic, first ask… “Do you consider yourself to be a tolerant person and are you open-minded towards people who may think differently than you?”

25. What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism? 5. Explain the ad hominem nature of Postmodern buzzwords like “exclusive”, “judgmental”, and “intolerant”.

26. What can we as Christians say in response to Religious Pluralism & Universalism? The Law of Non-Contradiction: “A” cannot be “Non-A” Every religion makes divine truth claims regarding God, the way to salvation, etc. Logically they cannot all be true (Ex. Hinduism vs. Christianity; Islam vs. Buddhism). Either one is true and the rest are false, or they are all false, but they cannot all be true.

27. What can we as Christians say in response to Religious Pluralism & Universalism? “All roads lead to God… One path is as good as another.” Only true if the destination is impersonal (ex. Traveling to CA). If the destination is personal then it really matters how you get there (ex. Falling in love). If someone in the know tells you the best route, doesn’t it make sense to follow their guidance? (ex. Helicopter traffic reporter) “So what path are you following?”