Theological Term of the Week

evidential apologetics
An approach to apologetics that seeks to demonstrate the reasonableness of  the Christian faith from positive evidences drawn from history and experience; a method of apologetics that seeks to show the truth of Christianity by demonstrating its factuality using arguments based on archeology, textual criticism, fulfilled prophesies, miracles and more. Also called evidentialism.

• An example of an evidential argument:

   A. The Historical Argument (an inductive argument with a posteriori premises).

  1. Historiography, textual criticism, archaeology, etc. demonstrate that the Bible is a reliable history book.
  2. The Bible teaches that Jesus lived, and claimed to be God.
  3. Jesus could only be (l) Lord, (2) a liar, (3) a lunatic
  4. Various parts of the description of Jesus’ conduct and the response to his character rule out his being a lunatic.
  5. Other parts of his conduct and a lack of clear motive rule out his being a liar.
  6. Therefore Jesus was whom he said he was: Lord, and God.

  
  Additional Steps, tending to add verification to steps 4,5,6

  • Jesus fulfilled prophecy in a way that a liar or lunatic could not
  • Jesus performed miracles in a way that a liar or lunatic could not
  • The historical fact of the empty tomb and the resurrection account cannot be explained if Jesus was a liar or lunatic
  • The phenomenon of the faith, integrity, and sacrifices of the early Church cannot be explained if Jesus was a liar or lunatic

• From Evidential Apologetics: Faith Founded on Fact:

  Although there are different varieties of evidentialist apologetics, they have several crucial aspects in common. First, evidentialism is primarily inductive, rather than deductive, in its logical form. Inductive arguments reason from as many facts, or data, as can be mustered to a conclusion that is shown to be supported in some way by the facts. By contrast, deductive arguments, such as those favored in classical apologetics, reason from as few facts, or premises, as are needed to a conclusion that is shown to follow from the facts. Evidentialism makes induction, rather than deduction, the primary form of apologetic argumentation. logic and science, and only in the context of faith is a rational and orderly world possible.  …

  Evidential apologists of all stripes hold in common a second crucial aspect: the conclusions of the apologetic arguments they employ are shown to be probable rather than certain. This follows from the inductive nature of the arguments typically employed. Inductive reasoning assembles facts and argues that a particular conclusion offers the best or most probable explanation of the facts. Such reasoning does not absolutely close the door on other possible explanations of the facts, and for that reason inductive arguments do not attain certainty for their conclusions. … 

  The third point on which all evidential apologists agree is that evidentialism seeks to employ methods that are in principle acceptable to non-Christians as a means of convincing them of the truth of Christianity. These methods are modeled on those used by both Christians and non-Christians in various disciplines. The evidentialist goal is to avoid gratuitous or disputable assumptions about the nature of things…

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What Is Evidential Apologetics?
2. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministries: Evidential Apologetics
3. Bible.org: Evidential Apologetics: Faith Founded on Fact
4. Dr. Greg Bahnson: The Impropriety of Evidentially Arguing for the Resurrection
5. Dr. Greg Bahnson: Evidential Apologetics the Right Way
6. Gordon Clark and David Hoover: Presuppositional or Evidential Apologetics?(mp3)
   

Related terms:

• presuppositional apologetics

Filed under Apologetics.

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A Psychological Problem

In chapter 30 of Greg Bahnsen’s Always Ready, he tackles the problem of evil and shows that it is not a logical problem, for if God has a morally sufficient reason for the evil which exists, there is no logical incoherence between an all-good, all-powerful God and the existence of evil. He further point out:

The problem which men have with God when they come face to face with evil in the world is not a logical or philosophical one, but more a psychological one. We can find it emotionally very hard to have faith in God and trust His goodness and power when we are not given the reason why bad things happen to us and others. We instinctively think to ourselves, “why did such a terrible thing occur?” Unbelievers internally cry out for an answer to such a question also. But God does not always (indeed, rarely) provide an explanation to human beings for the evil which they experience or observe. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deut 29:29). We might not be able to understand God’s wise and mysterious ways, even if He told us (cf. Isa. 55:9). Nevertheless, the fact remains that He has not told us why misery and suffering and injustice are part of His plan for history and for our individual lives.

So then, the Bible calls upon us to trust that God has a morally sufficient reason for the evil which can be found in this world, but it does not tell us what that sufficient reason is. The believer often struggles with this situation, walking by faith rather than by sight. The unbeliever, however, finds the situation intolerable for his pride, feelings, or rationality. He refuses to trust God. He will not believe that God has a morally sufficient reason for the evil which exists, unless the unbeliever is given that reason for his own examination and assessment. To put it briefly, the unbeliever will not trust God unless God subordinates Himself to the intellectual authority and moral evaluation of the unbeliever—unless God consents to trade places with the sinner.

By Faith the Rest, Part 1

I’m still bringing Hebrews 11 posts over from the old blog when I have time. This is the sixteenth post in a series from Hebrews 11. You’ll find all the posts done so far in this series listed here.

Our author can’t go on forever. There are just too many faithful people of old to examine them all, so he begins to sum things up for us.

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight, and women received back their dead raised to life.(Hebrews 11:32-35a NET)

First we have a list of a few more people who were faithful Old Testament saints. It’s given to us without mentioning specifics details of their lives. Not all of these men are ones I’d expect to be on a list of those whose lives serve as examples of faithfulness. David and Samuel and the prophets I’d expect, but not the others. Both Gideon and Barak seemed hesitant to act. And Samson? When it came to Delilah, Samson was more than a little soft in the head. Jepthah, if you remember, made a really foolish vow and then sacrificed his own daughter to keep it. But at God’s command, they all did things that would appear, to the worldly observer, doomed from the start, so even though they had some great weaknesses, we find them here on our list of those who are commended by God for their faith.

Next the writer lists the sort of things that happened over and over to people who trusted God.

• They conquered kingdoms. Joshua, as a case in point, or Gideon and others from our list. There are those whose names are not given to us here who could be included as kingdom conquerors, as well.
• They administered justice. This could also mean “they did what was righteous”, but it probably refers more specifically to those who ruled justly, like David, for example, and the judges given on the list.
• They gained what was promised. People saw some of God’s promises fulfilled, even though the biggy remained unfulfilled until Christ. For instance, the promises to Abraham were partly fulfilled because his descendents grew in number and lived in the Promised Land as promised by God.
• They shut the mouths of lions. Right away I think of Daniel, but there were others, too: David, Samson, Benaiah.
• They quenched raging fire. Daniel’s buds, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were thrown into the fiery furnace, are the ones I think of here.
• They escaped the edge of the sword. There’s Elijah, who Jezebel was going to kill, and the spies that Rahab hid. Can you think of others?
• They gained strength in weakness. I’ve mentioned some of the particularly obvious weaknesses above, but it’d be hard to find anyone on this list who didn’t have their foibles. God is always working within weak people to strengthen them for the tasks he asks them to perform.
• They became mighty in battle and put foreign armies to flight. There’s Gideon with his puny band, and more.
• Women received back their dead raised to life. Here I think of the two widows who sons were raised by Elijah and Elisha.

Thus ends the more pleasant part of these summary statements. These people trusted God and they had what we would see as successes as a result. However, things did not go so swimmingly for everyone who was faithful, as we’ll learn in the next installment of this series.