Christianity

No matter how you slice it, rationalize it, or avoid it, we all have a worldview. There is some fundamental set of assumptions, beliefs and philosophies that we hold to which guide how we conduct ourselves. My worldview is primarily grounded on the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, as documented in the New Testament documents. Here, then, are some little ditties I've made over the years regarding my beliefs.

(Note: For unknown reasons my PDF files don't display correctly with Acrobat 3.0. but they work fine with 4.0.)

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to discuss the claims of Jesus Christ with several friends and colleagues. For me, the best way to do this in a structured way is to organize an Investigative Bible Discussion, or IBD. I and my friend(s) agree to meet for four weeks, usually at lunch or dinner, for 30 minutes, and consider the claims of Jesus. To keep us on track, and avoid unhelpful ramblings, I put together a discussion guide, focusing on a passage from the Bible, with questions to aid the discussion. At the end of the four weeks, it's up to them whether they want to continue meeting for the discussions. Often, they do.

In the course of doing IBD's I've generated a fair number of discussion guidelines, which I've made available in hopes of helping others present the Gospel in a reasoned manner. Of course, these are not strongly refined and are geared towards my way of thinking and towards my friends (mostly technical people), so they may not fit your needs exactly. Hopefully, they will provide you with some ideas.

Investigative Bible Discussion Guides (Link)
Investigative Bible Discussion Guides(PDF, 103 kB)

One semester for Sunday School class, I tackled the fundamentals tenets of Christianity. While certainly not perfect, this presentation series provides a strong survey of the basic beliefs in Christianity.

Know What You Believe (Link)
Know What You Believe (PDF, 172 kB)

Another Sunday School series I created was on holiness. As with everything else here, this reflects my best effort on the top at the time. Of course, if I lived out everything in this series, I'd be a very much different person (for the better).

Practical Holiness (Link)
Practical Holiness (PDF, 61 kB)

Here's another one: some notes and group studies on the Holy Spirit. I think this is a more difficult top in some ways than the others, and this may not be quite as sharp as my other series (at least the public ones - let's not talk about the unseen guys on my computer). Difficult though it may be, it's also very interesting. Of course, I've got my own opinions and biases on this top, and those are apparent in my notes.

The Holy Spirit (Link)
The Holy Spirit (PDF, 41 kB)

Spiritual Gifts Viewpoints (Link)

I was doing a little historical research, and had the urge to read Luther's 95 Theses (Wittenburg, October 31, 1517). I don't remember where I found them, but here they are are.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses (Link)
Martin Luther's 95 Theses (PDF, 18 kB)

The historical reliability of the New Testament documents is foundational to the Christian faith (1 Cor 15:13-19), for its authors dept Jesus as a man interacting with real people in real places nearly 2000 years ago. Examining what they wrote, we find the authors support their reliability claims with accurate historical details, and are well supported by other sources. The following document provides a summary of key points regarding the historical reliability of the New Testament, and is meant to be shared with friends to encourage discussion about biblical issues. It should be noted that the Old Testament documents are also considered historically reliable by the same principles.

New Testament Historical Reliability Handout (PDF, 50 kB)

In the course of putting that handout together I've collected more facts and thoughts than could be condensed into a single, attractive, page. Here is my outline of information culled from various sources. This handout is not very pretty and not well-edited since it was not originally intended for distribution.

New Testament Historical Reliability Outline (Link)

There are a great many questions used both to try and attack Christianity, and also in earnest examination of the claims of Christ. The answering of these questions is called "Apologetics" and many difficult questions are covered in a multitude of easily found books. However, in my own attempt to better understand these issues, and to have a more ready response for inquirers, I've tackled a few of the more common ones, and written up brief responses. This section gives my current ideas.

Questions and Answers about Christianity (Link)

Common objections to Christianity are the alleged problems with the Biblical narratives. Perhaps of greatest significance are claims that the resurrection accounts, primarily given in the four Gospels, are hopelessly contradictory and inconsistent with one another. Having investigated this issue, I think that most so-called contradictions are born of a willful misreading of the texts by those who do not want to believe. But, there are a few points in the resurrection narratives that truly seem conflicted, until they are carefully considered. In the end, I think that these accounts can be brought together into one "harmonized" account of the resurrection events.

To fully explain my harmonization, I provide five files for examination. First, there is the prose narrative (and the PDF version) retelling the events in harmonized fashion. It has hyperlinked endnotes to relevant verses and my explanatory comments. Second, there is the web-ified summary table of all relevant verses arranged chronologically. Third, the summary table in PDF format for downloading or printing (more attractive than the web version). And finally, a summary handout version of the verse chronology.

A (Harmonized) Chronology of the Resurrection Events (Link)
A (Harmonized) Chronology of the Resurrection Events (PDF, 40 kB)
Harmonized Verses, Full Listing (Link)
Harmonized Verses, Full Listing (PDF, 20 kB)
Harmonized Verses, Handout (PDF, 37 kB)

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