Does the Church Need A New Reformation?
What I Never Learned in Church
// Question Outline //
// Part 1: Does The Local Church Need to Get Back to Reason and Training ?//
1. What is the Christian's and Church's Responsibility?
What is the Christian's and Church's Ultimate Goal?
What are principles and patterns?
What is the relationship between sin and truth?
What is the relationship between knowledge and transformation?
How does one build confidence in their beliefs?
2. What is The Nature of the Church? Should the local church, educate and train people?
What is disciple making?
What kinds of people does the local church consist of?
What is the responsibility of the local church?
What is the function of pastor-teachers?
What kind of theology should a pastor-teacher use and what kind of theologian should they be?
3. What is the Relationship Between Apologetics, the Christian and the Church?
Are only a select few Christians called to be apologists?
Did Jesus and the disciples use apologetics?
What is apologetics?
What Do I Have to Do Before I Can Call Myself a Christian “Apologist”?
Is there a need for Christian Apologetics in general?
How does Apologetics benefit the average Christian personally?
What about those who leave the Church/Christianity?
How does Apologetics benefit Christians in Sharing the Gospel?
Why are young college aged Christians walking away from Christianity?
Why is apologetics needed?
What is the relationship between evidence and faith?
Why should the church incorporate apologetics?
Where should our ideas and beliefs can be critiqued?
What is the relationship between evidence and faith?
Can you dispense with apologetics and just preach the gospel when evangelizing?
Why should the church incorporate apologetics?
Why should all Christians have a basic knowledge of philosophy, hermeneutics, theology and apologetics?
Should the local church equip Christians to give historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for following Jesus Christ, to defend God's existence, the reliability of the Bible, and the fact of Christ’s resurrection?
Why are atheists usually smarter than Christians?
Why are intelligent people rejecting Christianity?
Should the local church train people in Apologetics?
Why are Bible Colleges and Seminaries growing more than churches?
What is the Worst Deficiency in the Church?
The difference between teaching and training?
Should the church focus on teaching or training?
Why are young college aged Christians walking away from Christianity in record numbers?
Why and how have pastors lost much of their authority?
Should the local church meet the intellectual needs of its congregants?
Why should pastors be apologists?
What would happen if Christian universities and seminaries sponsored local churches? (What would happen if churches were more like Christian universities and seminaries?)
What are the issues that pastors and youth leaders should address?
Is the church challenging young people enough?
4. What is The Importance of Understanding Today's Barriers to the Gospel?
What are the current barriers to the Gospel?
What is Postmodernism, Pluralism, Skepticism, Relativism?
What does our culture believe?
What are the views of truth?
Where is spiritual warfare fought?
What does it mean to love God with our mind?
// Part 2: How Can the Local Church Get Back to Reason and Training //
1. Why is Philosophy Important in Theology?
What is logic? Why study it?
How do you notice and make good arguments over bad arguments?
Do we have to have absolute certainty?
What is the relationship between logic and God?
What is the relationship between logic and theology?
Should Bible teachers and pastors use the tools of philosophy and argumentation?
2. Why is Understanding Purpose and Audience Important?
What should be the Bible teacher's or pastor's purpose and approach?
Should they persuade with the intent of changing an attitude or action and discuss them in a logical fashion?
Should they present opposing arguments and address the most common objections or questions?
Should they attempt to convince their audience of their view?
What do they assume about their audience? Do they really understand their audience?
What does their audience expect from them?
How much support or justification should sermons have?
3. How Does One Interpret and Apply the Bible Correctly? Is there a correct way?
Are there different types of Biblical hermeneutics?
What is Systematic Theology and Hermeneutics?
What are the theories of inspiration and how do they affect one's interpretation?
What are some foundational principles of interpretation?
What if there is a conflict in interpretation?
Why can a text or passage have different interpretations?
What are the types of implications from a text?
Should Bible teachers/ pastors address them? What happens if they don’t'?
What are some hazards to avoid in interpretation?
What authority do Bible teachers/ pastors have?
What is the difference between a principle and it's application?
What is the difference between interpretation and application of a text?
How do we make sure we have the correct interpretation and application?
What are some of the logical fallacies that Bible teachers and students make and why?
4. Why Are There Different Interpretations, Systems, and Views in Christianity?
What are pastors and Bible teachers not telling you?
Why does a text or passage of the Bible have different interpretations? And what is the result?
What is the history of the Bible? How did we come to have it in its present form?
Why are there different translations?
What is textual criticism?
Why are there different interpretations, views and theories in Christianity?
Should pastors and Bible teachers address them? What happens when they don't?
What are essentials and non-essentials?
5. How Can the Church Incorporate Apologetics?
Did Paul use apologetics? And if so, how?
Should the church incorporate apologetics in preaching?
Should the church intentionally ask Christians and non-Christians why they believe what they believe?
What are intentionally apologetic sermons?
Should our churches be spiritually diverse – filled with not only Christians, but also atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, skeptics, or other assorted non-Christians?
Does one need to go to Bible College or Seminary to use or teach apologetics?
Is the church training people to be atheists?
Should Christians be discipled to be lay theologians and apologists?
Should Christian leaders undergo formal training in defending Christianity?
How does a pastor teach apologetics?
What are some examples of pastor-apologists today?
All truth is given by revelation, either general or special, and it must be received by reason. Reason is the God
given means for discovering the truth that God discloses, whether in his world or his Word. While God wants to
reach the heart with truth, he does not bypass the mind. – Jonathan Edwards
Christ’s call to have a childlike faith has been bastardized to a point that encourages blind acceptance of whatever we happen to have been told. - David Denison
[There is a real need] for rethinking of the role of reasoning and argument in the way we do evangelism.
- J. P. Moreland. Love Your God With All Your Mind.
We don’t want to have a church for ourselves, but for people who don’t like church- Timothy Killer
Bliase Pascal, child prodigy, scientist, mathematician, inventor, philosopher, and literary genius, believed we must capture their hearts before we can convince their minds: “Men despise religion; they hate it and fear it is true. To remedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason; that it is worthy of reverence and respect; then we must make it attractive, to make good men wish it were true; and then prove that it is true. Worthy of reverence because it really understands human nature. Attractive because it promises the true good” (Pensées 187). 92
// Introduction //
Does the church need a new reformation (I will mostly be using the local church definition of church, i.e., a group or society of people who claim to be Christians)? Well, why is the church not having much influence in our culture, schools, government, laws, media? How can the church and pastors be more effective and more convincing in our post-modern culture? Why are so many young college aged Christians abandoning Christianity more now than ever before?
Disclaimer: I am not claiming to be an “expert” in teaching the Bible, being a pastor, philosophy or apologetics. I don't have degree in Biblical studies, theology, public speaking or philosophy. Nevertheless, I have been a Christian since 2001; studied apologetics, evangelism and worldviews for about 10yrs; served in various ministries since 2003; served as a youth pastor for 3 years; attended various churches of various sizes; listened to various pastors and speakers; and have read many books. I have also heard various people teach the Bible from professionals such as pastors and scholars, who have degrees from a school or church, to nonprofessionals. From these experiences I am convinced that the local church, pastors and other people who teach the Bible need to return to reason and training to be more effective and more convincing to both Christians and non-Christians so that they can know and love God better and have a greater influence in our culture. How can they do this? As as I will argue, pastors or Bible teachers ought to defend what they are teaching, address barriers, cover objections, answer questions and make people aware of the other systems, views, and theories in Christian Theology. As one pastor put it: “[The pastor should] Be intentional with spending time with your people asking them questions about why they believe what they believe. As well, spending time with non-Christians and non-attenders asking them why they don’t believe what Christians believe.” 24
On the other hand, should the pastor or Bible teacher be leading his church in making a case or apologetic for what the Bible claims? should the church equip Christians to give historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for the Christian worldview? and should all Christians have a basic knowledge of philosophy, hermeneutics, theology and apologetics? Is this part of discipleship and the local church leaderships' job? That is, should the church be a training center? From my research and own experience, most Christians have invested little time to understand exactly what it is they have chosen to believe in. Our postmodern and pluralistic culture had made it important now more than ever for the church to meet the intellectual needs of its people.
But, Is this even important? As I will attempt to prove, I am convinced that there will be a revival in our culture when there is a intellectual reformation in the church.
What I will discuss in this paper is not just for people who teach the Bible, but also for anyone who listens to a Bible teacher or pastor and who studies the Bible on their own-- this is primarily for all church leaders and members. I will begin with arguing why the local church needs to get back to reason and training. In Part 1, we will explore the questions: What is the Christian's and Church's Ultimate Goal? What is The Nature of the Church? What is the relationship between Apologetics, the Christian and the Church? And What Is The Importance of Understanding Today's Barriers to the Gospel. In Part 2, I will address how the Local Church Can Get Back to Reason and Training and ask: Why is Philosophy Important in Theology? Why is Understanding Purpose and Audience Important? How Do We Interpret and Apply the Bible Correctly? Why There Are Different Interpretations, Systems, and Views (What Pastors and Bible Teachers Are Not Telling You)? and How Can the Church Incorporate Apologetics?
Note: I have chosen to write this paper in an outline form with excerpts and short summaries at the end of each section. This is not intended to be an exhaustive study so I encourage you to look up the authors and sources referenced.
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