Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

Peace has been made between us and our maker because of Christ. Jesus invites us to go on an interior journey that sees our hearts for what they are and what they can become in Him.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important historical event in the world. It changed history and Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection. As Paul says, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then his teaching is in vain, our faith is futile and we are the most to be pitied. The historical evidence and scholarly respect for the physical and bodily resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming now but it wasn’t always this way.

Jesus suffered our wrath and gave us grace because of His great mercy. We do not have to stand before God and justify or vindicate ourselves because Jesus took care of us.

Three Main Arguments

1. The Moral Argument

2. The Cosmological Argument

3. The Teleological Argument (“Fine Tuning”)

• Argument is not a fight or quarrel

• True philosopher doesn’t use arguments for the sake of arguing but for the sake of truth

• We use arguments all the time in our lives

• Why Philosophy?

“To be ignorant and simple now--not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground--would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” - CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory (pg 50)

A Christian should be able to give a logos (reason) for belief in the theos (God) of the Bible and this is where philosophy is helpful (1 Peter 3:15).

The goal of an argument is not to prove absolute certainty which leads to skepticism but to try and show what is most probable/plausible and makes the most sense when looking at all options.

The beatitude is not: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after blessedness?” It is: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” All life dead ends at the cross, and that also is where life begins.

The word for “defense” is where we get our word apology, it means a defense like you would make in a court

of law.

This class will cover how to make a defense to various things such as:

-the existence of God,

-the proof of the resurrection of Jesus,

-the reliability of the scriptures,

-competing systems of thought,

-what some call the “problems” of a biblical position.

When we see the suffering in the world and realize Jesus’ heart for the suffering world, we get a glimpse of hunger and thirsting for righteousness.

A meek person is not a weak person, the word meek is the Greek word which means a tamed wild animal. When we truly own up to our sin, only then do we become free.

Who inherits the earth? It is JESUS, which means you and I do as well. No matter what happens, no matter what people do, no matter what people say, no matter what is culturally acceptable at the moment, we do. Which means we must live like it is ours now, not in a snobbish way, but where wickedness does not have a place in it, and the Kingdom of God is seen in His people.

True mourning sees ourselves for what we are and what we have done, but also sees Jesus for who He is… our needed savior.