Firm Foundation
The Answers
Previously:
Faithless age
- Declining faith
Information age
- Prevalence of doctrines and different faiths
The Need
- Reason 1. It is making its way into the church
- Reason 2. Its In your home
The Answer
Ephesians 1:17
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:18-20
18 having the eyes of your hearts
enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope to which he has called you, what
are the riches of his glorious inheritance in
the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable
greatness of his power toward us who
believe, according to the working of his great
might 20 that he worked in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at
his right hand in the heavenly places,
That we would know:
How the story ends
That we are his reward
That our God is omnipotent
The Answers
The Nicene Creed, also called the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed, is a statement of the
orthodox faith of the early Christian church in opposition to certain heresies.
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father
Through Him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation,
He came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day He rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
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He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the
dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and
glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of
sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Common Questions:
1) The Bible has mistakes / was created by men recently.
The Bible is in fact the most reliable and accurate book of antiquity (the ancient past). It is
textually accurate due to the number of manuscripts and the dating of those manuscripts.
The first complete copies of single New Testament books appear around 200AD, and the
earliest complete copy of the New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus (re)discovered in 1844,
dates to the 4th century (325 AD years after Jesus’ death.)
Which was 1697 years & 10 months ago
There are over 5,000 complete Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, 10,000 Latin, and
9,300 other languages/dialects with some of the earliest copies dating to 120 AD. Complete
New Testaments could be compiled with even the direct quoting of early church fathers.
The Bible has proven to be more historically and archaeologically accurate than any
other ancient book.
It also is divinely inspired
According to research by Chris Harrison and Pastor Christoph Römhild,
There are 63,779 cross references in total.
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The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible, starting with
Genesis 1 on the left.
Books alternate in color between light and dark gray, with the first book of the Old and New
Testaments in white. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in that chapter
Cross references are conceptual links between verses, connecting locations, people, phrases,
etc. found in different parts of the Bible.
Play telephone game
The reason this is impossible is because the Bible is a collection of sixty-six books composed
and compiled over 2,000 years by 40 authors on 3 continents.
It is the divinely inspired word of God!
2) What about all those different translations.
Translations do not in fact make the Bible or Christianity inaccurate. We have some of the most
literal translations of the Bible in the English language that are consistent and accurate with
regard to the original language/manuscripts through the New American Standard Bible (NASB)
and the English Standard Version (ESV).
Remember the Codex Sinaiticus: we can cross reference that to the translations we have today
for accuracy.
3) Hell is just not reasonable.
This objection has its roots in the over-estimation of man and the under-estimation of God. It
takes a philosophical worldview that man is essentially good and God forgives everyone.
Consequently, not upholding any justice at all.
Because who draws the line and where do you draw it? And wouldn’t that make you your own
God if you got to decide when you were righteous or not?
Genesis 1 God created us in paradise.
We sinned and from that sin/disobedience to God all atrocities flow.
How can paradise be perfect if imperfect people reside in its walls?
God provided a way for us to become righteous again however, some refuse to choose his path.
Revelation 21:8
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with
fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Matthew 25:46
"And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” -
4) What about all those hypocrites in the church.
Praise God there are hypocrites in the church!
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Otherwise the church would be empty!
Romans 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Clarification:
It depends on your definition of hypocrite:
If you mean christians fall into sin that’s all of us.
but if you mean people who are purposefully, continually doing evil unrepentantly that is
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works
in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers
of lawlessness.’
We are sinners that are saved by grace alone in Christ alone through faith alone for His glory
alone.
So many people use that word to describe normal christians who fall like we all do but repent
and continue this walk.
5) Science and evolution has disproved God.
Evidential science proves there is a God, by the complexity and amazing nature around us.
Scientists used to think that space was eternal.
But in 1929 astronomer Edwin Hubble (Hubble telescope) affirmed he saw galaxies expanding
outward.
If they are expanding they must have a beginning.
Albert Einstein in 1931 visited the Mt. Wilson Observatory,
peered through the telescope, and then, “I now see the necessity of a beginning.”
Decades after, in 1965, two U.S. scientists detected the remnants of the initial burst of energy of
the creation event typically called the “Big Bang.”
Arno Penzias, later declared, “The best data we have [about the Big Bang] are exactly what I
would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the first five books of Moses, the Psalms and
the Bible as a whole”
(“Clues to Universe Origin Expected,” The New York Times, March 12, 1978, p. 1).
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The big bang is how astronomers explain the way the universe began. It is the idea that the
universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right
now—and it is still stretching!
Genesis :1,3
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,”
and there was light.
Also the fact that we see precise values needed to establish and sustain a universe capable of
producing life.
6) Only one way to God, what about all those other religions.
The exclusivity of Christ is a tough thing to swallow for unbelievers in our “tolerance-driven”
culture.
5 Major religions:
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism.
Three of the 5 are Abrahamic religions;
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all recognize Abraham as their first prophet. They largely vary
on the person of Christ among other things and hence make completely different claims about
salvation.
Today, at least 3.8 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions, equaling more than 50%
of the worlds population
The Hindu religion:
A Hindu views the entire universe as Gods and everything in the universe as God. Hindus
believe that each person is intrinsically divine and the purpose of life is to seek and realise the
divinity within all of us. The Hindu belief is totally non-exclusive and accepts all other faiths and
religious paths.
The Hindu faith is centred around reincarnation; the belief that when someone dies, the soul is
reborn as a different form.
The Buddhist religion:
Follows the teachings of Buddha or the awakened one. A man who grew up rich realized there
was suffering in life so he gave them up and became a monk to escape suffering and
established the Noble Eightfold Path, that is supposed to help you reach Nirvana. Nirvana is the
supreme state of letting go of desires and suffering.
They do not believe that people should look to gods to save them but rather people should work
out their own paths.
There is no reward or punishment at the time of death. They believe the spirit continues after
death and may be reborn. Death can be an opportunity for liberation from the cycle of life, death
and rebirth.
Life sucks and then you die…….
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The 3 Abrahamic religions believe they are talking to the same God, but believe very
differently about the person of Jesus and thus the Gospel.
The Jewish understanding of Abraham is drawn from the book of Genesis, Chapters 11:26 to
25:18.
Judaism originated with the biblical patriarch Abraham (approx 1800BC)
Believe Jesus was a heretic.
So they are still awaiting their messiah.
Muslim religion began around 600 AD
Believe one man’s revelation Muhammed. Who believed was revealed to him orally by the angel
Gabriel. He then after fleeing from persecution returned raised an army and crusaded and
spread through most of the Arabian peninsula. The message spread through warfare and Trade.
Christianity Began 1st century AD
Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets.
7) What about all those wars started by Christians.
The key to this questions is again…do not base Christianity on the basis of the actions of some
of the presumed followers of the faith that are acting contradictory to what the Bible states.
Matthew 5:10 ESV“ Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Revelation 2:10
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into
prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until
death, and I will give you the crown of life.
8) Christianity was spread by the power-hungry people.
Yes, the apostles who were all poor, made no money, had absolutely no power, were oppressed
by Rome in the world and the religious elite in Israel, and all died martyrs deaths were all power-
hungry people who spread Christianity throughout the known land.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself,
and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever
loses his life for My sake will find it.
Acts 21:13
13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready
not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
9) If God was really all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving, why is there pain and
sickness and death?
This again shows a misunderstanding of God and an over-estimation of man. It is our fault that
there is pain and sickness and death. It is our sin that has brought about these consequences,
not God.
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We have free will and choose to do evil with that free will.
Revelation 3:20
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
All objections are rooted in a person wanting to divert the issue away from the true source, which is themselves. They are all smoke to cover up the sin
and pride that the sinner loves. The Bible says that a person must repent and put their trust in Jesus to be saved.
Eph 5:24-25: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the
word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 29 For no one ever
hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 32
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 4:11-13: And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the edifying of the body of Christ, until
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect
man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
