Recently a young pastor and apologetics person (sorry, don’t know the technical name) Jason Dollar spoke at our church. He really got me thinking, which is what apologetics is supposed to do. So, I thought this would be a great blog question.
The Context:
Jason Dollar (www.jasondollar.net) has developed The Four Squares of Apologetics that center on four topics: Creation, People, Jesus Christ, and the Bible. His thinking is that most theological/apologetics questions can be placed in one of those four categories. Since I did get to hear the first part of his discussion on the Four Squares I will “level the playing field” and share his introductory comments about how the Four Squares work. All squares are related, depend upon, and support one another. Creation and People are on the bottom as a typical starting point. You will notice “theism” is between the two squares. He says that it is possible to prove creation and people by proving that a god, not necessarily the God, is the author of each. “Christianity” is between the Bible and Jesus Christ because it is at this point that proof of Christianity is evident. He did such a better job than I but maybe it makes sense.
The Definition:
Do you know what apologetics is? Honestly, I didn’t. According to Jason apologetics is what we use to “show what we know” about Christianity to an unbeliever. That makes sense. If we really felt like we had it all together we could say it is showing what we know to an atheist.
The Assignment:
Let’s take the four squares one at a time. We will go in the order of Creation, People, Jesus Christ, and the Bible.
So, for this post let’s focus on CREATION: Can you show what you know?
1 comment:
First of all, you do not have to go very far in Scripture to understand the power and nature of Creation. "In the beginning God created...". The name for God used here is ELOHIM. The word literally means "Omnipotent Power" and denotes itself as the creator and judge of the universe. The word create is a very unique word. It is the Hebrew word "bara". The most basic definition that I found for the Hebrew word Bara is this: to bring into tangible existence without pre-existing elements. In other words, "bara" is to start with absolutely nothing, no elements, no matter, no energy, etc. and to bring forth a tangible creation. Now, even the most atheistic of scientists will admit that we had to begin with something, whether it was a particle of dust or some single cell organism. Now I'll be the first to admit that I do not believe we evolved from a single cell, or from a monkey, or anything else for that matter, but from an apologetic standpoint, let's take their own pre-conceived notions. The question still has to remain for them, where did it all begin. There had to be a point when there was "nothing" and then, be it all of the sudden, or through a million year process, there become "something". How? Take that same scientist, and let him walk down a deserted beach. He looks down in the sand and finds a timex watch, the one that takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. He looks around and can find none that dropped it, no explanation for how it got there, really no proof of how long it has even been there. Would that same scientist come to the conclusion that the watch must have just evolved by chance, formed over millions of years, and nestled itself into the sand of that deserted beach. Of course not! Then how can we look at the world, which is far more complicatated in it's design and makeup than a timex watch, and assume it all just "came together" over time to form this. We can't! There had to be come form of "divine" intervention; something or someone that was not bound by the laws of science or physics; something or someone that could defy what we know as human knowledge, and start everything in motion. There was, and His Name, according to Genesis; ELOHIM, the omnipotent, all powerful, creator and sustainer of all creation.
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