God is is an apologetics study series that I an two others wrote for my church. Made up of 5 studies, the series is meant as an introduction to apologetics, and is aimed at students who have not had much exposure to apologetics.

You can get a copy of it here.

Overview of studies

Each week the study focuses on something that God is God over:

1. God is the God of our minds (Part 1): introduces the idea of apologetics, comparing it to evangelism and motivating the Christian to take both seriously and biblically.
2. God is the God of our minds (Part 2): introduces the idea of a worldview, comparing the Christian worldview to Naturalism, focussing on how important the idea of a worldview is when engaging in evangelism and apologetics.
3. God is the God of justice: discusses various issues regarding justice and Christianity: the history of the church, hell, suffering, and the priorities of Jesus.
4. God is the God of science: considers whether evolution is a good objection to Christianity, how Big Bang cosmology is evidence for theism (via the Kalam cosmological argument), and whether miracles are impossible.
5. God is the God of Christianity: introduces the key issues in defending the historical reliability of the Bible: its original trustworthiness and its transmission from the originals to us.

Notes on structure

There are at least two files for each study: the questions for the group and the questions with suggested answers for the leaders. The files are in doc/docx format so that changes can be made if so desired, as well as pdf format. Additional material is as follows:

• Study 3 has an additional reading of two pages on the problem of suffering.
• Study 4 requires the video here on the Kalam cosmological argument.
• For study 5 we’ve made a comparison of the passages used in one of the questions.

Notes on doctrine

We’ve tried to make this as much a defence of “mere” Christianity as possible, but of course there will be doctrinal assumptions:

• In study 3, there is a defence of traditionalism with respect to hell (ie. eternal conscious punishment).
• In study 4, the thesis that evolution and big bang cosmology are not contrary to scripture is taught.

Credits

• Roland Elliott (elliott.roland@gmail.com)
• David Wright (mynaamisdavid@gmail.com)
• Ed Ender (ed@ststephens.org.za)