Pastor’s Class

By Rev. Kelly Smith

♫Getting to Know You,
Getting to know all about you♫
Let's Go around the Room

What’s your name?

What’s Your Church Background?
Why are you here?
What do you hope to learn?
Origins
● All things have a starting
point
● Some are better than
others...
● What is the starting point
when it comes to religion?
The First Questions

●
Is there a God?
● How do you know...
● What it’s like?

●
Who it is?
● If you're right?
Is there a God?

Let’s use a bit of Logic

Consider a Book
Consider a book
– Does a book just show up?

What’s the process of making

a book?

Does this happen by

accident?
What if…?
What if we found a group of people that firmly believed books were
formed by accident?
That the book formed as trees fell on top of each other in layers. The ink formed
on a page, into words, and designs that made sense and could be understood.

What would our assessment be of such folks?

Let’s say they argued that it wasn’t every book but even just one book?
Is there a God?
To print out our DNA,
3.1467 billion base pairs,
into book format would take
more than 175 books and
would total 262,000 pages

That’s just people.

Is there a God?
It’s more than just us
– Look at the Bees, what shape is
their honeycomb?
– What would happen if ice sank
instead of floating?
– Consider that at present there are
more than 200 parameters needed
for there to be life on a planet
We are arguing that this is not an
accident
This is an extension of the...
Ontological Argument
– This book was written by someone, let’s call him John Doe
– Now Mr. Doe was born to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Doe
– Mr. Doe had parents, Mr. and Mrs. Doe
● Repeat Ad Nausem
– Eventually what do we come back to?
Is there a God?
● Now this is a good proof,
but what is the problem?
● Who else could be our
point of Origin?
● Aliens are a distinct
possibility,
#StormArea51
There are more Arguments
St. Anselm
– He argued that the fool
says in his heart that there
is no God. For when he
says God, he imagines the
greatest thing of which he
can conceive.
– But how can an imagined
God be greater still?
Criterial Absolutes
– By saying something is
better, there has to be
something that is defines
Good.
– To say that something is
Evil, is to say that it is
against or far away from
that which is Good.
So which Religion is right?
If religion is about morals, then it would be up for us to to
choose whatever made the best people

If it were about feeling good, then drugs are just as

effective

If all paths lead to ”god”, doesn't matter what religion you

are, or if you even have one
From C.S. Lewis
Could Hamlet ever meet Shakespeare?

How can creation meet its creator, because if God created all
things then God is not created.

Early on C.S. Lewis was convinced that it was impossible for

man, creation, to meet/know God, creator, just as it was
impossible for Hamlet to leave the page and meet Shakespeare.
Could Hamlet meet Shakespeare?
There was only one way for it
to happen.

What if Shakespeare wrote

himself into the story?

Then we would know which

God is real.
How do you find God?
We have to look to where
the impossible and
irrational happens
Almost everyone has
died(only 2 haven't and
several twice)
But One Man died, and
rose again
The Proof of Christianity

And if Christ has not been raised, then our

preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain
1 Corinthians 15:14
How do you know you are right?
There are witnesses galore from the time of Jesus' Resurrection

But how do we know they weren’t lying?

Consider the Apostles, who cowered in a room for fear of the Jews and then went out
boldly proclaiming
Consider Paul who hated the Church and saw Christ on the Road to Damascus

All but one suffered violent deaths, from which they could have been
spared, if they said it wasn't true
So What Do We Know about God?
Jesus taught that God is
Triune
● 3 Persons

● 1 Divine Essence

● Father, Son, & Holy Spirit

God the Father
● Creator of all things
● Begat the Son
● The Holy Spirit
Proceeds from Him
● Moses was only
allowed to see his back
God the Son
● Jesus of Nazareth
● Fully Man & Fully God
● Bears the Wrath of God the
Father to atone for our Sins
● Holy Spirit Proceeds from Him
● He and the Father are One
● All Scripture is about Him
God the Holy Spirit
● Sanctifier
● Brings the Forgiveness of
Sins
● Creates Faith
● Gives the Gifts of God
– 1 Cor 12:4-11
– Gal 5:22-23
Where do we learn all of this?
● The Bible
– Jesus cited the Old Testament
as the Word of God
● Jesus tells us it is all about
Him
– John 5:39
● Even the Authors record this
– John 20:31
About the Bible
● Old Testament
● 39 Books
● Written in Hebrew & Aramaic
● Authors
● Moses, Joshua, Isaiah David, Ezekiel, too name a few
● Content
● Torah – First Five Books
● History – 12 Starting at Joshua
● Poetry – 5 starting at Job
● Major Prophets – 5 starting at Isaiah
● Minor Prophets – 12 starting with Hosea
About the Bible
● Old Testament <cont>
● It is History
● Covers from 4114 BC to 430 BC
● Written from 1446 BC to 430 BC
● God was then Silent for 430 years
● New Testament
● 27 Books
● Written in Koine Greek, which was popularized by Alexander the Great's
Conquests
● Authors
● Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude
About the Bible
● The Bible has 1 Focus and
Purpose
– John 5:39
– John 20:31
● Any Sermon that isn't focused
on Jesus, isn't from the Bible
and thus isn't Christian
– Read 1 Corinthians 1:23
Authenticity and Veracity
● We do not have a single original copy...
● What did happen was that extensive copies were made,
● The Bible is the document with the most Historical Evidence by a Landslide
● 5800 Greek manuscripts
● 10000 Latin Manuscripts
● 9300 from other languages
● Even one written in the same decade as the original writing
Authenticity and Veracity
● Compare
● Homer's Illiad
● Annals of Roman History
● Aristotle's Philosophy
● Bible
● # of Copies – Years later
● 650 – 1000 years later
● 1 – 734 years later
● 5 - 1400 years later
● 26100 copies, plus recorded
verses in early Church Fathers
– a copy of Matt 26 within the
same decade of its writing
How Close Do We Have it?
Pretty Close and the differences aren't that big
Open to Mark 9:44/46

Oh wait you can't :)

There are some verses that are left out because they do not have as
solid of a witness in the manuscripts
44/46 echo 48
How Close Do We Have It?
Mark 11:26 seems a bit more severe
But if you do not forgive, neither will my Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses
Read Matthew 18:35, is this a new saying?

So someone who says, ”you can't trust the Bible,” what they actually
mean is ”Don't trust me when I talk about the Bible”

This is why some joke that Historian's have more faith in the Bible than
Theologians
So What is in The Bible?
It will teach us about History and God's Action in Creation

How God created the World and mankind’s value.

It will teach us why the World is as broken and painful as it is, why we get sick, grow
old, die, etc.

What God has done to not just fight Evil, but conquer it.

What God has promised to do when the last day comes

Thanks So Much!

Any Questions?