Topics to discuss at an apologetics club

[siliconwafer]

I recently started to attend an apologetics club at a church and the leader is looking for material to go over. What topics do you suggest the club covers? The club meets once a month. The people in the club sometimes watch videos and listen to lectures.

[Jaecp]

I hope its not too cheesy,

Last week (or maybe 2) I was walking through the student commons area and one of the Christian clubs on campus (the pentacostal one) was watching some sort of video where a guy explained the story of the gospels while on a sailboat, dressed to look like, I guess, a rather filthy peasant fisherman, as he talked about the story with jesus and the nets being cast and all that.

If I were at an apologetics club, I'd probably want to start off by figuring out why we're doing apologetics in the first place and the various topics to cover kinda flow from why your doing it in the first place.

[fm93]

There are lots of issues to be covered, of course, but if the club is just starting (which I'm inferring from your statement that the leader is looking for topics), I suggest you go over defenses of basic doctrines and answers to common objections from Internet skeptics. These include:

--the Resurrection
--the Trinity
--the problem of evil
--the Christ-myth (the idea that Jesus didn't exist as a historical figure)
--the pagan copycat idea (that the stories of Jesus were stolen from pagan myths that predated Christianity)
--the Old Testament killings of the Cannanites, Midianites and Amalekites
--the atonement (i.e, be able to answer charges like "the atonement is bloody, barbaric, blah blah blah")
--slavery in the Bible
--women in the Bible
--the problem of hell
--the nature of faith

There are many more topics that could be covered, but I think that's enough for now.

[Jaecp]

Indeed FM93, which is why its important to figure out what the club wants to do first, who they are trying to focus on (you use much different arguments against lapsed or apathetic believers than against atheists, for example) before we can figure out what he'd actually want to talk about.

[Kane]

I think honest apologetics clearly state their epistemologies. Therefore, I would start by surveying what the most common epistemology is between the members. That will help take care of some of the interpretive differences that may arise between members, and it will also pave the way to appreciating each others's varying conclusions.

[siliconwafer]

I hope its not too cheesy,

Last week (or maybe 2) I was walking through the student commons area and one of the Christian clubs on campus (the pentacostal one) was watching some sort of video where a guy explained the story of the gospels while on a sailboat, dressed to look like, I guess, a rather filthy peasant fisherman, as he talked about the story with jesus and the nets being cast and all that.

If I were at an apologetics club, I'd probably want to start off by figuring out why we're doing apologetics in the first place and the various topics to cover kinda flow from why your doing it in the first place.

The leader started the apologetics club because he wanted to help Christians answer non-Christians who make objections to the Christian faith. He wants to encourage Christians to talk to non-Christians about Christ.

[siliconwafer]

There are lots of issues to be covered, of course, but if the club is just starting (which I'm inferring from your statement that the leader is looking for topics), I suggest you go over defenses of basic doctrines and answers to common objections from Internet skeptics. These include:

--the Resurrection
--the Trinity
--the problem of evil
--the Christ-myth (the idea that Jesus didn't exist as a historical figure)
--the pagan copycat idea (that the stories of Jesus were stolen from pagan myths that predated Christianity)
--the Old Testament killings of the Cannanites, Midianites and Amalekites
--the atonement (i.e, be able to answer charges like "the atonement is bloody, barbaric, blah blah blah")
--slavery in the Bible
--women in the Bible
--the problem of hell
--the nature of faith

There are many more topics that could be covered, but I think that's enough for now.

Those are some great topics. I'll suggest them to my club. Those are some topics that frequently come up when telling others about Christ.

[Tanakh Keeper]

I recently started to attend an apologetics club at a church and the leader is looking for material to go over. What topics do you suggest the club covers? The club meets once a month. The people in the club sometimes watch videos and listen to lectures. The leader started the apologetics club because he wanted to help Christians answer non-Christians who make objections to the Christian faith. He wants to encourage Christians to talk to non-Christians about Christ.

You started a club of like-minded people with the main purpose of talking to people that aren’t in the club? What’s the point of that, why not talk to each other?

[siliconwafer]

You started a club of like-minded people with the main purpose of talking to people that aren’t in the club? What’s the point of that, why not talk to each other?

Everyone needs to hear about Jesus Christ. He is the only person who can save people from their sins. When Christians talk to non-Christians about Christianity, they are going to hear objections about their beliefs.

[Tanakh Keeper]

Oh. Seems silly to me, to have a club and then not talk to the people in the club.

[shunyadragon]

I recently started to attend an apologetics club at a church and the leader is looking for material to go over. What topics do you suggest the club covers? The club meets once a month. The people in the club sometimes watch videos and listen to lectures.

I have visited and participated years ago in such groups on college campuses, and found the greatest problem as; (1) Misrepresenting the positions of the opposition in arguments, such as atheism and scientists on evolution. (2) Not understanding logic, the views of different positions, concepts like 'proof,' and the philosophy of science. For example, the limits of logic to resolve issues of truth and knowledge. (3) Focusing far too much a one sided arguments with preset conclusions

[siliconwafer]

I have visited and participated years ago in such groups on college campuses, and found the greatest problem as; (1) Misrepresenting the positions of the opposition in arguments, such as atheism and scientists on evolution. (2) Not understanding logic, the views of different positions, concepts like 'proof,' and the philosophy of science. For example, the limits of logic to resolve issues of truth and knowledge. (3) Focusing far too much a one sided arguments with preset conclusions

I'll let the leader of the club know about this so that the club can avoid the things you mentioned.

[KingsGambit]

I heavily recommend going over Gary Habermas's "minimal facts" approach to discussing the resurrection.

[Jaecp]

I heavily recommend going over Gary Habermas's "minimal facts" approach to discussing the resurrection.

I don't see that line of reasoning going very far for either of the stated goals,

The leader started the apologetics club because he wanted to help Christians answer non-Christians who make objections to the Christian faith. He wants to encourage Christians to talk to non-Christians about Christ.

Minimal facts reassures existing Christians, but it isn't something that non-Christians are going to take too seriously. The issue of the general reliability of the gospels can't be dismissed because you only want to focus on a small part of the gospel. To people who already consider the gospels to be reliable (which is neither of the groups that silicon is going to be talking to) the response to the idea will probably be pretty inline with this

[nightbringer]

This isn't so much a suggestion for a topic to be discussed so much as a general suggestion: I advise spending some time practically engaging in discussion with people you are trying to reach (or doing something analogous). From my own experience, the apologetics teacher (or those more experienced in apologetics) cannot simply teach the material and expect the students/other attendants to be able to use it effectively in dialogue (that is, in actual evangelism!). I think it's really important that the material is both explained and modelled in actual dialogue. You can do this by in some manner actually going on and talking to people/observing others in the group talking to people, or through role-play, or through watching videos of discussions about spiritual matters (perhaps extracted from films) and pointing out whether so-and-so communicated effectively or not.