• Last week we began our critique of Religious Pluralism and Universalism by considering the biblical testimony related to these issues. We saw clearly that God’s word refutes both of these notions.
• Today we want to begin looking at some of the philosophic arguments that can be raised against these philosophies. We’ll begin with an argument from the discipline of Logic known as the Law of Non-Contradiction.
• The Law of Non-Contradiction says that, “A cannot be non-A”. In other words, as the philosopher Aristotle explained, “One cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time.”
• When this Law of Non-Contradiction is applied to the claims of the world’s religions, it quickly becomes apparent that all religions cannot be equally true. Why? Because all of the religions of the world make mutually exclusive and contradictory truth claims about essential matters like the nature of God and the way to salvation.
• For example, Hinduism says that God is an impersonal force, while Christianity teaches that God is a personal being. Well, which is it? Is God an impersonal force or is He a personal being? These fundamental claims about the nature of God cannot both be true as this would be a violation of the Law of Non-Contradiction: A (God is personal) cannot be non-A (God is impersonal).
• Another example, Islam teaches that salvation is based on works (keeping the Five Pillars of Islam), while Christianity teaches that salvation is a gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Again, which is it? Is salvation based on works or is it a free gift of grace? It cannot be both, because again, this would be a violation of the Law of Non-Contradiction: A (salvation is a gift of grace) cannot be non-A (salvation is based on works).
• What you come to discover when applying the Law of Non-Contradiction to the truth claims of the world’s religions is this, either one of these religions is true and the rest are false, or they’re all false, but they cannot all be true according to the Law of Non-Contradiction.
• This argument from logic can be a helpful tool in getting someone to reconsider the validity of the claim that all religions are equally valid paths to God. Once a person is willing to reconsider the notion of religious pluralism, it is then possible to begin a conversation about the possibility that maybe Jesus really is the one true way to salvation.

For more helpful arguments against the philosophy of Religious Pluralism, please check out The Apologetics Study Bible for Students, available in our online store.

• One of the most common beliefs in our Post-Christian culture today is the idea that all religions lead to God, one path is as good as another, and ultimately everyone will be saved.
• As Christians, however, we affirm the biblical truth that Jesus alone is the way to salvation. How can we defend this truth in the face of widespread criticism and opposition? First, we must be clear on what the Bible teaches and we must be able to explain the biblical position in a loving and helpful way to non-believers.
• A helpful way to introduce the biblical position on salvation is to affirm the truth that God is ultimately going to treat all people with perfect fairness, justice, and love (1 Timothy 2:1-5; 2 Peter 3:9; Deuteronomy 32:3-4). People need to understand that God’s heart is for people to be saved and nobody is going to be unfairly treated by God.
• We must then be clear on the fact that Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of God (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-3). So, if a person wants to know and understand God most clearly, they must look to Jesus Christ.
• Not only is Jesus the ultimate revelation of God, but people must also understand that there is no other way to be saved apart from his sacrificial death on the cross (John 14:6; John 3:16-18; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Colossians 1:19-22). The Bible does not affirm multiple paths to God; salvation comes through Christ alone.
• It is also essential that we clearly and lovingly explain that the Bible unambiguously declares that not all people will be saved to eternal life with God (Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 22:2-14; Luke 13:22-28; Romans 9:27). Universalism may be an attractive idea, but it is certainly not a biblical one.
• Lastly, we cannot shy away from making sure people know the reality and nature of the eternal punishment that awaits those who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:27; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Hell is real, we must affirm this and warn people of it; and when we do speak of Hell with non-believers, as Francis Schaeffer would say, “We must do so with tears”.
• As followers of Jesus Christ we remain under the mandate of the Great commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:1-5). Thus, while the biblical position on salvation may not be popular in today’s Post-Christian culture, we must remain faithful in declaring this critical message God has entrusted to us.

For more information on this topic please see Jason Carlson’s DVD lecture titled, Salvation: Is there really just 1 way? available in our online store.

• Last week we began highlighting some positive principles and strategies for effective evangelism, looking at our first four of eight points. In this Fast Facts we’ll conclude this overview…
• The fifth task of effective evangelism is the removal of barriers to the Gospel. Often times we will encounter obstacles, real or imagined, which keep a non-believer from taking the message of Christianity seriously. As Christians we must be prepared to address and overcome these barriers (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
• Sixth, we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to move in people’s hearts. While we must be faithful in our verbal proclamation and defense of the Gospel, we must never forget to plead for the Spirit’s intercession in the hearts of non-believers (Acts 16:13-15).
• Seventh, we must invite the non-believer to receive Christ. Many Christians know how to fish, but they fail to set the hook! We must give people the opportunity and encouragement to take that vital step of faith. Be prepared with some simple questions, such as, “Would you like to pray with me today to put your trust in Jesus?” These simple encouragements can go a long way in helping someone to make a proclamation of faith.
• Lastly, whenever possible, we must commit to discipling new believers. We must help new converts become established in the faith: come alongside them to help them grow, ground them in Scripture, help them to gain assurance of their salvation, and get them connected to a Bible-based church where they can participate in the body of Christ.

For more helpful guidance in reaching our culture with the Gospel, please check out the book, Answers For A Confused Church, available in our online store.

• In recent weeks we’ve looked at and critiqued some of the flawed views on apologetics and evangelism that are often found within the Church today. We now want to turn our attention over the next two weeks to some positive principles and strategies for effective evangelism.
• First, we need to remember that we are called to take the Gospel to the world. Jesus called his disciples to be “fishers of men”. A fisherman cannot catch fish without going to where the fish are! We must follow the example given to us by the early Christians who went into their culture and engaged people with the good news of the Gospel (Acts 17:17).
• Second, we need to verbally communicate the gospel. People need to hear and understand the message of the Gospel in order to receive it (Romans 10:14-15). This means that lifestyle evangelism alone is inadequate. We cannot assume that we will influence people for the Gospel by simply being good friends and neighbors. Ultimately they must be told of their need for salvation and of the grace of God found in Jesus Christ.
• Third, we must relate to people and build relationships. While lifestyle evangelism alone is inadequate, it is a valuable and often necessary aid in communicating the Gospel. We must remember that people’s hearts as well as their heads must be won! Once again, the apostle Paul provides a great model for us in this area (1 Thessalonians 2:8).
• Fourth, we need to build bridges for the Gospel. This means that we are to be looking for opportunities and openings for Gospel conversations from within another’s life, culture, or religion. As the apostle Paul demonstrates in Acts 17, it is wholly appropriate to use non-Christian sources to make connections to biblical truths for the sake of communicating the Gospel.

For more information on effectively sharing our faith in today’s culture, please check out the book, Apologetics For A New Generation, available in our online store.

• Over the past few weeks we’ve been examining some of the flawed views on apologetics and evangelism that are sometimes embraced within the church. Today we are going to look at one final position we call the Defeatist approach.
• Sadly, there are some Christians today who have simply given up in attempting to reach the world with the Gospel.
• A common viewpoint with those who hold this position is that the state of our culture and world today is so bad that none of our efforts will change anything.
• Furthermore, many justify this position by declaring that we are obviously living in the last days and Jesus told us the world would just keep getting worse as we moved closer to his return.
• The problem with this Defeatist approach however, is that while it may be true that we are living in the last days, we cannot know this for sure. Jesus also told us that no man knows the day or hour of his return (Mt. 24:36).
• Therefore, since we don’t know the Lord’s timing, we must continue to be faithful in carrying out his final instructions to the Church given in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20).
• The Lord has never rescinded the Great Commission. Therefore, regardless of the extent of the cultural decay around us, it is biblically unjustifiable for any Christian to abandon our duty to continue to work for the advancement of the Gospel in our world today.

For more information on reaching today’s culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, please check out Jason Carlson’s newly released CD series, Answering the Challenges of a Post-Christian Culture, available in our online store.

• In our current Fast Facts series on apologetics and evangelism we have been examining some of the flawed views on outreach to non-believers that are sometimes found within contemporary Christianity.
• Today we will consider another flawed view on outreach called the Devotional approach. This view argues that the best approach to evangelism is to simply share our personal stories about what Jesus has done for us.
• The Devotional approach focuses on highlighting our own personal experience with Jesus and sharing our stories of how he has changed our lives.
• Now, sharing our personal stories of how Jesus has changed our lives is certainly a helpful tool in our evangelistic outreach. However, we must remember that there are other people in our culture with stories of changed lives too; and for many of them, it wasn’t Jesus who did the changing (I’m reminded of a young woman I met recently who raved about the difference that Zen Buddhism had made in her life).
• The fundamental flaw with a pure Devotional approach to evangelism is that salvation must ultimately be based on truth and facts, not simply on subjective personal experiences.
• Remember, Satan is the great deceiver (John 8:44) and he is more than happy to lead someone into a positive transformational experience if it takes him or her further away from Jesus.
• Sharing our stories is helpful, but ultimately we must provide a rational explanation of the Gospel (Rom. 10:2-3, 14-17), reasonable answers to honest questions (1 Peter 3:15), and a defense of the truth as opposed to heresy and fallacy (Jude 3).

For more information on sharing your faith with those caught up in false religions and philosophies, please check out Dr. Carlson’s book, Fast Facts On False Teachings, available in our online store.

• Last week we looked at why some of the popular postmodern views on evangelism and apologetics are flawed in light of the biblical admonitions on these topics.
• However, there are other flawed beliefs about apologetics and evangelism within the Church today, such as the Defensive approach, where some Christians believe we should not proactively engage the non-Christian world, but we should insulate ourselves from the culture around us.
• The Defensive approach creates a barricade mentality or a Christian subculture in order to avoid being influenced or corrupted by the non-Christian world around us.
• This Defensive approach to the Christian faith is flawed though in light of biblical truth. For example, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us that our spiritual warfare is not defensive in nature, but offensive. This is echoed in Ephesians 6:10-18 where the apostle Paul tells us that the spiritual armor of the believer is also offensive in nature. Notice, there is no armor mentioned there to cover our backsides!
• In order to fulfill the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20) the Christian cannot embrace a Defensive approach to the world around us. We must be proactively engaged in contending for the faith.

For more information on apologetics and evangelism please check out the book, Apologetics For A New Generation, available in our online store.

• While apologetics has always been an essential tool for Christian evangelism, sadly, many in our postmodern world today are beginning to question the relevance of contending for the faith with rational argumentation.
• Some common ideas on evangelism, which are held by many Christians today, are things like: “People aren’t looking for rational arguments, they want to hear your story”; “People don’t need evidence for the faith, they just need us to be authentic”; and “Conversion is about the heart, not the intellect”.
• Many Christians today seem to prefer experiencing Christianity to thinking about or explaining it.
• This postmodern vision of Christian evangelism and apologetics, however, falls far short of the Bible’s admonitions on this subject, as well as its counsel and examples on how the faith is appropriately transmitted.
• Scriptures such as Mt. 13:23; Acts 8:30-31; Acts 18:4; Acts 19:8-10; Romans 10:17; and 2 Cor. 5:11 are all evidence that reason and rational argumentation are at the heart of the New Testament model for evangelism and apologetics.
• Can there be saving faith without understanding? Can there be understanding without reasoning? The Bible would appear to say “No”.

For more information on apologetics and evangelism, please check out The Apologetics Study Bible for Students, available in our online store.

• The primary mission Jesus Christ gave the Church was to go into the whole world and make disciples of him (Matthew 28:19-20). Apologetics is an essential tool in fulfilling this mission.
• Apologetics is the science and art of defending the Christian faith. The word apologetics comes from the Greek legal term ‘apologia’, which means ‘to give a defense’.
• Having an ability to practice apologetics is necessary for believers as we are called to proactively ‘contend’ with non-believers and false worldviews (Jude 3).
• The skill of apologetics is also helpful as Christians are called to be ready always to provide answers to those who ask us about our faith (1 Peter 3:15).
• However, having answers alone is not enough. The manner in which we as believers do apologetics is as important as the words we express (1 Peter 3:15).
• Remember, you can win the intellectual battle yet lose the war for a person’s heart!

For more information on why and how we should engage in Christian apologetics, please check out the book, Apologetics for a New Generation, available in our online store.

• A third argument raised against the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is called the Swoon Theory. This argument posits the idea that Jesus never really died as a result of his beatings and crucifixion, but rather, Jesus was mistakenly declared dead and then placed in the tomb. After 3 days in the cool air of the tomb, Jesus awoke from his coma, emerged from the grave, and convinced his followers that he had risen from the dead.

There are a number of problems with the Swoon Theory:

• First, the Romans were expert executioners; and the executioners presiding over Jesus’ crucifixion made certain he was dead. The Gospels record that the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus had their legs broken to hasten their deaths. However, when the executioners examined Jesus they found no reason to break his legs, as he was already dead (John 19:33).
• Second, the Roman executioners jabbed a spear through Jesus’ side to assure he was dead (John 19:34). The Gospels record that blood and water spilled out of this stab wound, indicating death by traumatic shock and acute heart failure.
• Furthermore, even if we assume Jesus survived the crucifixion, there are still numerous challenges for the Swoon Theory to overcome. For example: How did Jesus escape the mummy-like grave clothes he was buried in (John 19:38-42)? How did a barely alive Jesus move the large stone blocking the tomb’s entrance (Matthew 27:60)? How would Jesus have gotten past the guard unit commissioned by Pilate to make the tomb secure (Matthew 27:65)? How did a bruised and battered Jesus convince his followers that he was the risen Lord who had triumphantly conquered the grave? And lastly, what happened to Jesus if he wasn’t God incarnate, risen, and ascended into Heaven? Are we to believe that someone of Jesus’ acclaim just disappeared from history, never to be seen or heard from again?
• The Swoon Theory is ultimately a desperate attempt to explain away the overwhelming historical evidence for the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus.

For more information on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, please check out Dr. Carlson’s lecture, The Resurrection: Fiction or Fact?, available in CD or MP3 in our online store.