1. LEADER PREPARATION apologetics: An Overview

12 Pages·2013·0.81 MB·English

Lesson 2:
apologetics: An Overview
The Bible—You Can Trust It
This includes:
1. Leader Preparation
2. Lesson Guide
1. LEADER PREPARATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
No book ever published has been more influential than the Bible. The Bible contains
the most beautiful literature and the most perfect moral code ever communicated to
humanity. It was written by those in power and those who were cast aside as nobodies.
No book in history has been translated into more languages, and no book ever recorded
has claimed the things found in the 66 books of the Bible. Christianity rests in the
declaration that the Bible is accurate and reliable, and in this study, students will
discover how they can know for sure that Scripture is accurate.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. WHAT: Teenagers are bombarded regularly with claims from teachers and peers on
the validity of the Scriptures.
2. WHY: We can help students avoid going along with the inaccurate belief that the
Bible is full of mistakes and is not relevant to our modern world.
3. HOW: Your students will examine evidence that will give them a firm foundation on
why they can trust the validity of the Bible.
PRIMARY SCRIPTURE
2 Timothy 3:10-17
SECONDARY SCRIPTUREs
Psalm 19:7-9; 110:160; 119:43; Isaiah 61:1-2; Jeremiah 31:15; Micah 5:2; Matthew
2:1, 16-18; Luke 4:18-19; 24:10-11; John 19:35; 21:24; 2 Peter 1:16
TEACHING PREP
The overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. We have included lots of
content to help you prepare for the discussion on apologetics. While you may not want to convey
this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead—
and some of the content can help with further conversations with students.
Read 2 Timothy 3:10-17.
The Bible is the most unique work ever recorded by humanity. It’s a collection of
66 books, written by 40 or more different men over a period of 2,000 years—yet it
remains one book with unity and consistency throughout. The individual writers had
no idea that their words would one day be our lens by which we see God. Each book,
letter, poem, and prophecy fits perfectly into place and brings unity to the entire
work. Anyone who examines the pages of Scripture and learns to cross-reference
(compare similar Scriptures in different books) will see there is no way these books
were written by chance or coincidence—it’s a divine work.
We can see one consistent theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. This
message is clear: God is doing a great work in creation and redeems all things
through his Son, Jesus.
When people think about the origin of the Bible, the thought of divine revelation
comes to mind. Many people think that God appeared to men and dictated to them
what to communicate to the rest of humanity. That is not how it happened, though
perhaps it would be much cleaner if God had used this method! However, God did
inspire what these men wrote, and their words reveal the message of God’s incredible
love and his desires for humanity.
God used a wide variety of broken, imperfect people to communicate his redemptive
story. The people who wrote the books that were collected as the Bible went through
a process of recording, transmitting, and even translating the divine text—and as you
look at it, you see that it is all so normal and human. Authors even recorded parts
that might be embarrassing (history of Jesus lineage, women at Jesus’ empty tomb,
acts of disobedience and sin by prominent people, and so on).
The Bible contains statements that can be difficult to understand, non-technical
descriptions (Jesus is the bread of life—John 14:6), and figures of speech, such
as this one: God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like
grasshoppers to him. He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent
from them (Isaiah 40:22).
A striking piece of evidence of divine inspiration is found in the fact that many
elements of modern science were acknowledged in the Bible long before scientists
confirmed them experimentally. Here are some examples:
• Roundness of the earth (Isaiah 40:22)
• Almost infinite extent of the sidereal universe (Isaiah 55:9)
• Law of conservation of mass and energy (2 Peter 3:7)
• Hydrologic cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7)
• Vast number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22)
• Law of increasing entropy (Psalm 102:25-27)
• Paramount importance of blood in life processes (Leviticus 17:11)
• Atmospheric circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6)
• Gravitational field (Job 26:7)
These are not stated in technical language that non-scientists cannot understand.
They are plainly written so that any person can experience the vast complexity of God
in simple, everyday ways. Their presence in Scripture can increase our trust when
God speaks about other things, such as sin and salvation.
So how did the particular books of the Bible get selected to be a part of the canon, or
rule of faith? Let’s focus on how the 27 books that comprise the New Testament were
chosen.
Leaders in the early church realized that it was time to make an official list of books
that would be universally accepted as the Word of God. Many Christian spinoff
groups were spreading, and churches didn’t want to be influenced by new waves of
spirituality, so church councils began to gather, pray, and select official lists of New
Testament books. The appointed church leaders did not randomly choose books
by pulling numbers out of a hat, nor did they engineer a list of books for political
purposes. Rather, they were endorsing books that had divinely pointed people to God
over the previous centuries.
Leaders established three criteria that a work had to adhere to for it to be considered
as part of the Bible: orthodoxy, apostolic connection, and universal/churchwide
consensus.
• Orthodoxy
• Sources of authority for the early Christians were the Old Testament,
Jesus’ teachings, and the teachings of his apostles. The first test for
any writing had to be its conformity to what the church already knew to
be true.
• A postolic Connection
• An apostle had to be someone who was commissioned by Jesus, had
been with Jesus since his baptism by John, and had witnessed Jesus
after his resurrection (see Acts 1:21-22). The early church placed great
weight on the authority of the apostles, and each work had to have a
direct connection to an apostle. This meant that authorship was either
by an apostle himself or someone who had intimate connection with an
apostle. For example, Mark was a traveling companion with Peter, and
Luke traveled with the Apostle Paul.
• Universal Acceptance
• The books of the New Testament were distributed and copied by the
churches that the apostles had planted around the Mediterranean
world.
THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]
Text Message Questions
We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior
to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the
curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.
• How do we know the Bible is accurate and reliable? Get some solid
answers when the group meets this week.
• How accurate do you think the Bible is? Share your thoughts with the
group tonight.
Parent Email
We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to parents following the lesson.
Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and
customize the email to fit your ministry needs.
Dear parents,
Our students are continuing their series looking at key, foundational topics in
apologetics—the discipline of explaining and defending what it means to have faith
in Jesus. This week’s conversation focused on understanding the accuracy and
reliability of the Bible.
No book has been more influential than the Bible. Christianity rests in the declaration
that the Bible is accurate and reliable. Because teenagers are bombarded regularly
with claims from teachers and peers on the validity of the Scriptures, it’s important
to help students avoid going along with the inaccurate belief that the Bible is full
of mistakes and is not relevant to our modern world. In this week’s gathering, our
students examined evidence that offers a firm foundation on why they can trust the
validity of the Bible.
We encourage you to continue the conversation at home with these kinds of
questions:
• Do you find it easy or difficult to believe that the Bible is accurate and
reliable? Why?
• Would you willingly die for something you know is not true? Why or why
not?
• Why is it significant that outside sources confirm the accuracy of the Bible?
As we continue through this series, please contact me if you have any questions or
would like additional resources to help answer your teenager’s questions. Have a
blessed week!
Lesson 2:
The Bible—
apologetics: AN OVERVIEW
You Can Trust
It
2. LEsson guide
GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]
Bring or borrow a stash of magazines, newspapers, and nonfiction books.
Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then have
students form groups of three or four. Give each group several magazines, newspapers, or
nonfiction books. Then SAY SOMETHING LIKE:
As a group, look through the items I just gave you. Spend a couple of minutes talking
about which articles you find most intriguing, which topics catch your attention, and
which issues appeal to you.
Give students about two or three minutes to review their items in their groups. Then
ASK:
• On a scale of 1 to 10—with 1 as low and 10 as high—how important is it to
you that the content in these resources be accurate?
• How can you determine if these resources are accurate and reliable?
• Do you find it easy or difficult to believe that the Bible is accurate and
reliable? Why?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: There is no written work in the history of humanity like
the Bible. Many people say it’s the greatest book ever written, yet they are only half
right. The Bible is a great work, but it is not one book. The Bible is a collection of 66
different works that include history, prophecy, letters, and poetry. The books were
written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith rests surely
upon the foundation of Scripture.
Have students use their smartphones to look up the definition of the word inerrant.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The Bible never uses the word inerrant, but the idea is
obvious in many different Scriptures.
Have students look up these passages: Psalm 19:7-9; Psalm 110:160; Psalm
119:43; and 2 Timothy 3:16.
ASK:
• How does the word inerrant relate to your understanding of what the Bible
teaches—and what you believe about the Bible?
• How do those specific passages reveal the accuracy and truth of the Bible?
• What other themes or truths do you see in these Scriptures?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Many people in our culture ask, “How can you be sure that
the Bible is the same now as it was when it was written?” Essentially, they’re asking,
“What evidence do you have that the Bible is accurate?” As we’ll see today, we can
point to several different sources and pieces of evidence that support the accuracy
and trustworthiness of the Bible.
TEACHING POINTS
The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with
more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen are (1) We
find evidence from the biblical manuscripts, (2) We find evidence in the “internal test,” and (3)
We find evidence from outside sources.
Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you
use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it
clearer for your audience.
Read 2 Timothy 3:10-17 together as a group. Consider dividing verses among your students so
everyone has a chance to read.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: If the Bible has even a hint of inaccuracy, then we ought
to disregard the entire book and accept the fact we have no hope to stand on. Some
people believe that the Bible is either full of inaccuracies or is a fictional book put
together by religious zealots centuries ago. Others say the teachings of the Bible are
outdated, contradictory, and full of scientific and historical errors. So let’s see what
we can learn from the evidence about the accuracy of Scripture.
1. We find evidence from the biblical manuscripts
ASK:
• What’s the oldest book you’ve ever seen?
• Why are so many people fascinated by antiques, old cars, and other old
things?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When we talk about the Bible, it’s important to understand
the word manuscript—essentially, a document that is handwritten. This word is
so essential in understanding the validity of the Bible because the original writers
thousands of years ago not only penned the words of the Bible themselves by hand,
but copies of the books were also handwritten—and the process was meticulous.
For example, when the Apostle Paul was shaking up the Mediterranean region with
the message of Jesus, word of his ministry spread dramatically. People from faraway
regions wanted to read the letters he wrote to various groups of Christians. But there
were no copy machines to distribute the writings—and certainly there was no Internet
or social media! In the first century, scribes meticulously copied important texts word
for word. These scribes held great reverence and detail in duplicating these letters
to minimize even the possibility of the slightest error. Scribes would handwrite 10-20
manuscripts a week, and these copies would be distributed to distant regions. We
know that these copies are accurate because we have been able to recover some
through archaeology, and the number of manuscripts discovered is unparalleled in
ancient literature. The 20th century discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls provides a
significant check on the quality of the manuscripts we have of the original text—in
Hebrew for the Old Testament, and Greek and Aramaic for the New Testament
ASK:
• Why is it important to know without a doubt that the Bible we have today is
the same one written centuries ago?
• What do you think it was like for the Holy Spirit to divinely guide the writers
of the books that would be included in our Bible?
2. We find evidence in the “internal test”
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The second test of the reliability of the Bible involves the
Scriptures and what they say about themselves. Remember, the Bible is not one
book written by one person. It is a collection of 66 books, written by about 40 people
in three different languages over a span of 2,000 years. The “internal test” involves
looking at such evidence as eyewitness accounts, biblical prophecies, and cultural
biases.
ASK:
• Would you willingly die for something you know is true? Why or why not?
• Would you willingly die for something you know is not true? Why or why
not?
• Read John 19:35, John 21:24, and 2 Peter 1:16. What do these verses
reveal about eyewitness accounts of biblical events?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Most of the biblical authors claim that their accounts are
eyewitness accounts of the events they recorded. In the New Testament, accounts of
the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were written by people who were intimately
acquainted with him. Their writings reveal their truthfulness and their commitment to
communicating the integrity of the Jesus narrative. These apostles maintained their
testimony through intense persecution and even death. Many people will lay their life
down for the truth, but no one will lay their life down for what they know is false.
Most of the New Testament was written between A.D. 47 and 70, and all of it was
completed before the end of the first century. There was not enough time for myths
to be created and propagated and distributed, because multitudes of eyewitnesses of
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were alive when the New Testament books began
to circulate. These eyewitnesses would have challenged blatant historical falsehoods
about the life of Christ.
Ask students to form groups of two or three for these questions.
ASK:
• Read these three pairs of Scripture: Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:16-18;
Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:1; and Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:18-19. How
do you see the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in each New Testament
passage?
• Why is the fulfillment of prophecies such powerful evidence of the
accuracy of the Bible?
Bring everyone back together, and ask for volunteers to share answers to the
previous questions, as time permits.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Hundreds of Bible prophecies have been fulfilled—
specifically and meticulously, and often long after the prophetic writer had passed
away. The prophet Daniel prophesied in 538 B.C. that the Messiah would come
483 years after the Persian emperor gave the orders to allow the Jews to rebuild
Jerusalem (Daniel 9:24-27). This prophecy came true.
Another aspect of the “internal test” is the presence of women in the account of
Jesus’ resurrection. Not only were women present at the empty tomb, but they
also were the first ones to hear the news of Jesus’ resurrection and the ones who
informed the other disciples. Why is this so significant? Most of us today are brought
up to believe in the equality of all people in political, economic, and social life, but
that wasn’t the case for the Jewish audience of the first century. Given the low status
of women in that cultural context, it is extremely significant that the Gospel authors
actually own up to the fact that women were initial witnesses of Jesus’ empty tomb.
Have a student read Luke 24:10-11.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: In that culture, women were forbidden to testify in a court
of law because their word was worthless as an “inferior” gender. There was even a
prayer that Jewish men might recite daily that included an expression of thankfulness
to God for not making him a slave or a woman.
ASK:
• Given this view of women and their exclusion from giving legal testimony,
why is it significant that women were the first discoverers and chief
witnesses of the empty tomb of Jesus?
• If the writers of the Gospels were not writing accurately about Jesus’
resurrection, why would they include this information? Why not remove
references to the women and their discovery?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: All four Gospel writers seem to have an unwavering
dedication to the facts and accurately recorded what was for them a very
embarrassing and awkward fact, the women’s testimony.