Notes Module 2 Christian World Views Chapter 13 - Notes...

Notes: Module 2 Chapter 13
The Evidence for Christian Theism
Christian World Views
November 22, 2012
It is improbable that anyone thought up, last week, a question that will bring Christianity
crashing. Brilliant minds have probed through the profound questions of every age and
have ably answered them.
PAUL E. LITTLE
 As puzzle builders we could use several strategies to determine which picture best fit our
initial examination of the puzzle pieces.
 We cannot waste our one life randomly putting together life’s pieces, hoping it all works.
We have only a small number of years in one very important life—our own.
 We need to decide which worldview is most likely to be correct and the one that we can
base our lives and destiny upon. Therefore, a wise person tests worldviews and makes a
decision to live by.
 One excellent, small book that covers the basic objections people raise about Christianity
is Paul Little’s classic Know Why You Believe , the source book for this chapter’s title
quote.
 Any religion or belief, no matter how idiotic, can provide testimonies to its truthfulness.
Testimony does not “prove” any idea or religion to be correct. Christian theism’s
testimonies, though, seem remarkable in comparison to those of other religions,
especially in their scope.
 The origins of Christianity are a case in point of remarkable evidence for the truth of
Christianity’s claims.
 The original small Christian sect had no army, and no dominating philosophy, and its
members faced years of persecution. The original leaders of the Christian movement,
almost to a man, gave their lives in martyrdom to testify to the truth of Jesus Christ and
their new lives in Him.
 Christian theism is a rational, highly defensible world and life view.
 Just because some things are not perfectly clear about our Christian faith, we do not need
to retreat into total uncertainty and doubt.
 Our faith can grow with our study in the areas of our uncertainties. We need to be always
on guard that static creeds do not become our primary defense against things we fail to
understand.
 The evidence for Christianity is reasonably clear, but a moral decision in the opposite
direction can cloud the thinking about the evidences.