Know Why You Believe

KNOW Series

by K. Scott Oliphint, Justin S. Holcomb (Editor)

The Christian life depends upon faith, but there are good reasons for that faith. In Know Why You Believe professor and author K. Scott Oliphint answers the "why" questions both Christians and non-Christians often ask, laying out a simple and convincing case for the core teachings of Christianity.

As part of the KNOW series, Know Why You Believe is designed for personal study or classroom use, but also for small groups and Sunday schools wanting to better understand the traditional defenses of Christian belief. Each chapter covers a foundational teaching and includes a rationale for that teaching, responses to common objections, reflection questions to prompt further consideration, and suggested readings for readers wanting to dig deeper.

Genres: Theology, Christianity, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction

222 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Dr. K. Scott Oliphint Is professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of West Texas State University (B.A., 1978) and Westminster (M.A.R., 1983; Th.M, 1984; Ph.D., 1994). An ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Dr. Oliphint served in pastoral ministry in Texas before coming to Westminster in 1991. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Battle Belongs to the Lord: The Power of Scripture for Defending Our Faith; Reasons For Faith; Revelation and Reason; "Epistemology and Christian Belief," (Westminster Theological Journal, Fall 2001); "Something Much Too Plain to Say," (Westminster Theological Journal, Fall 2006).

Reviews

[Joyce Olij · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because of a recommendation in a magazine. I was looking for the answer to "Why believe in miracles?" since a friend has a hard time believing in miracles or accepting them. I found the answer in the book initially to be rather weak, but upon second reading, I changed my mind. If you can't believe in miracles - you can't even believe in Jesus, because His coming to earth and taking on our sins IS a miracle!
A good book, but I don't know how much I'll retain - it's hard to remember good answers to tough questions - especially when you're under pressure!
Favourite notes:
Miracles in the Bible are always worked to bring about a testimony or act that points to God's redemption.
If we accidentally bubbled up from non-human matter, then we have no more 'meaningful' than the random fizz on a can of soda.
Christianity gives a GENESIS - a true beginning point. Evolution does not.

My notes on the book:
1. WHY BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE?
The Bible is not an infomercial.
External reasons to believe -
- not the product of one person
- not a private religion
- historical and cultural evidence shows consistency of OT and NT
- dead sea scrolls and 1000's of manuscripts
- Emperor Constantine did NOT collate the NT books.
- no council decided which books to include - the councils were for doctrinal error.

Internal reasons to believe -
- a discussion on which should be included cannot just be in history - it must include a relationship with Jesus - like a marriage - not a science experiment. What you read must be consistent
- H.S. works with the Word
- the Bible is the final authority (like our senses). If any other authority established the Bible's authority, then the Bible would not be the final authority.
contradictions - be committed to all parts of Scripture - like your body to diagnose sickness. Do not begin with a premise of contradictions.

2. WHY BELIEVE IN GOD?
There is a resurgence of atheism - belief in God is harmful, therefore all people should not believe in God.
e.g. religion kills
beware - descriptions of bad behaviour by Christians is NOT Christianity.
Distinguish between what relition is and what religious people DO. If nothing really matters, then what you believe doesn't matter either - so don't impugn others with atheism.
75% of people believe in God. Sense of diety.
2 reasons people believe in God:
1. every person knows the true God
2. if we suppress that knowledge, we make other idols.

Everything that has effect has a cause. But God has no cause. Some have blind faith that the world is un-caused rather than believe that God caused it.
Some atheists just hope there that is no God!! (suppress the truth)
Without God, we cannot see the world rightly.
With God we have a proper and clear view of it and myself as a sinner.
Jesus is just a historical person - leaves many unanswered questions. We cannot pick and choose Bible texts - then WE are the authority.

3. WHY BELIEVE IN JESUS?
The Jesus we believe in must be the Christ of the Bible
Jesus has extraordinary influence but also:
1. Jesus is God and man
2. Jesus became man and dwelt among us - a supernatural event.
3. Jesus engaged in public ministry
4. The Son of God reveals God - right at the beginning (fall). All redemptive history works toward His coming.
5. The end of history does not make sense without Jesus. Jesus is LORD!

4. WHY BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
empiricism - we can know only what we experience. "A wise man proportions his beliefs to the evidence." - no evidence for a miracle - no miracles.
probability - the likelihood that something will take place (but does depend on outside factors)

Hume - if you take in hand any book and it doesn't answer 2 questions:
1. Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number?
2. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact & existence?
No to both? then the book is useless!! For Hume, a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature.
But is a miracle 'abnormal'? Why assume the 'natural' and not 'God created everything'?

Spinoza - God is unchangeable, so miracles are not possible.
Hume assumes the laws of nature just ARE.
Spinoze assumes that since the laws of nature are LAWS, they cannot change, like God.
Nature does not move on its own. God made it. nature also is not run or changes by impersonal laws. God made it. It is His faithful work.
*Miracles are always worked to bring about a testimony or act that points to God's redemption.
e.g. calming of the sea - to increase disciples faith and trust. NOT to impress or show magic.

If you see a miracle in the Bible, ask: What redemptive truth is God communicating thru this miracle?

Hume - belief grounded in HIS experience
Christian - belief grounded in what GOD has said and done.

How can an unchangeable God act in His world without changing? We cannot comprehend how God can do this grand miracle. But He does do it. and it is the center of our belief. We believe in miracles because we believe in Christ!

5. WHY BELIEVE JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD?
How would you investigate a moon landing?
-info online and newspapers etc.
- investigation is the same for those who agree and disagree.
historical investigation gives us enough info to make a thing credible and believe.
-we do the best with the info we have - it is not 100%. We can be convinced by the evidence that Christianity is a fact. Or we can not.
But we do have commitments/convictions/assumptions that become the grid through which we read the facts.
BUT - we do not believe in the probability of the resurrection! We believe because without it there is not Christianity at all!!
It is the KEY to Christianity for 3 reasons:
1. it is according to the Scriptures. OT confirms it.
2. then preaching and faith are all in vain, it not true. We cannot trust in a dead person.
3. His resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. Christ is not raised - we are not raised.
- you cannot base the resurrection on the basis of unknown future scientific laws. It is not possible to base what is rational or irrational on unknown future discoveries.
You bias allows you to 'see' the resurrection in a certain light.
The resurrection can only be what it is in light of a Christian worldview. Other worldview - it's just strange!!

6. WHY BELIEVE IN SALVATION?
Story of Louie Zamperini - Olympic athlete, war hero, war veteran - then Christian. "I am a good man."
Who is this God?
We identify with the triune God. We need to know who God is, who we are, and what God has done to know what salvation is.
"If we accidentally bubbled up from non-human matter, then we have no more 'meaningful' than the random fizz on a can of soda."
man - created in image of God, created to rule over creation. Fall into sin.
We are not good people. We seek our own glory. We need salvation!!
Love does not trump everything else.
God's primary job is not to forgive us, no matter what our attitude.
Christmas celebrates God with us! He was like Adam, yet obeyed perfectly.
Therefore, we must respond. Believe!! Acts 16:25-31.
Trust Christ. We believe in the salvation God offers and provides because without salvation there is NO HOPE. It is true rest.

7. WHY BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH?
majority of people believe in it.
82% of Americans believe they will go to heaven.
But most don't ask WHY they will go to heaven. or why they believe in life after death.
there is no evidence for life after death.
Greek philosophy & Plato - made famous the notion of the soul, and the soul continues after we die.
People are made in the image of God - have life that will never end. Luke 16 - man in Abraham's bosom. Life after death is only found in Christ. Existence after death is for everyone.

8. WHY BELIEVE IN GOD IN THE FACE OF MODERN SCIENCE?
We tend to think that what is 'now' is normal.
We tend to think that what is 'new' is always better.
Science & the Bible used to be harmonious.
The Enlightenment changed that - real truth is now in reason & Darwin's evolution theory.
Now we do not need a god. - But nothing can be affirmed as TRUE. Everything is RANDOM. No foundation.
Christianity gives a GENESIS. A beginning. A true beginning point.
We must create meaning for ourselves? Science can give us explanations - but not meaning.
Nature is God's book and can be properly understood in light of God's written book - the Bible.
The Enlightenment challenged all external authority. It grounds all truth in individual thinking. Then the conflict between religion and science began. Darwin's theory fit perfectly with that.
"To say you don't believe in evolution is like you don't believe in air and sunshine!! It produces either pity or vitriol."
Modern science has not discredited Christianity. It has DISMISSED IT.
With Christianity you see everything else. With evolution you do not.

9. WHY BELIEVE IN GOD DESPITE EVIL IN THE WORLD?
Augustine. Problem of evil - is a Christian problem.
1. God - the problem of evil was not a surprise. It was part of God's decree.
2. Image of God - man has dominion. Bears God's image. When man sins it brings real consequences.
3. God with us - God sent his Son to be forsaken by Him and to die. God solves the problem of sin and evil!
Remember God is God - some things he does not reveal (why He allowed evil in the first place.)

10. WHY BELIEVE IN CHRISTIANITY ALONE?
Students believe - all truth is relative. Your truth is yours. Mine is mine. This is indoctrinated in students.
This is a question about religion AND about everything else. Offensive to some.
Relativism is always accompanied by religious pluralism and tolerance; therefore all religions are true in some way. No one can have all the truth.
Is Christianity true for me or is it true whether or not I believe it?
In your world a red light cannot mean go and a green light stop.
Not everything is relative.
If God does not exist then anything is permissable.
Christianity - truth is located in GOD himself. That is where truth originates.
Humans are made in God's image. So we reflect the original.
Truth cannot be relative. It is beyond us (in God) and given to us (God's revelation).
Assumption in elephant story is that we all know it's an elephant. But how can we know that? Is it all the same God?
Christianity takes seriously God's revelation. So it is not arrogant, nor a claim of knowledge.
John 14:6 - clearest statement of exclusivity of Christianity.
Tolerance - they way of Christianity IS the way of tolerance. That tolerance is rooted in God.
The important question is not what I believe and what does it include?
It is - is my belief TRUE? Jesus is TRUTH!

Remember - God's Word has authority.
What God's Word says is authoritative - it is TRUE.
Eve forgot that.
How can I know that God has spoken, that His promises will be kept? God responds with indignation! HE is the reason.
Trust God. Know God BETTER. Objections will always try to move you away from trusting God and what He has said.

[Brian Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a short, clear book on apologetics from a presuppositional perspective. If you're not familiar with different approaches to Christian apologetics, presuppositional apologists make their presuppositions--that which they presuppose or assume to be true as a starting place for arguments--explicit. Their starting point is Scripture, and they will let you know it. Other approaches include classical apologetics, which provide standard arguments for God's existence before going to the Bible, evidentialist apologetics, which focus on evidences for God's design in the world and for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and cumulative case apologetics, which use all of the approaches. At any rate, Oliphint is a significant figure in presuppositionalist circles.

The book is small in size and just over 200 pages. It has interesting information and makes some good points. (One point that got my attention was that historical information is not sufficient to produce faith. Historical information is based on probabilities, whereas faith needs to rest on certainty. So, while we can give good arguments for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, these alone do not lead to faith. A more certain word, driven into the heart by the Holy Spirit, is needed.)

The book answers basic questions like "Why Believe in the Bible?", "Why Believe in God?", and "Why Believe in Jesus [and miracles, the resurrection, etc.]?".

Note: the book is far better than the accompanying video series, in which Dr. Oliphint speaks directly to the camera. Those videos are quite boring and don't really get to the heart of each question. They make me wonder if Oliphint has ever talked to non-believers and answered their questions. (I suppose he has, but the videos don't show it.) So, skip the videos and read the book.

[Sam Nesbitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his contribution to Zondervan’s Know Series, K. Scott Oliphint introduces the reader to some of the most basic objections and rebuttals within the realm of Christian apologetics. Oliphint specifically works through ten questions: why believe in the Bible? Why believe in God? Why believe in Jesus? Why believe in miracles? Why believe Jesus rose from the dead? Why believe in salvation? Why believe in life after death? Why believe in God in the face of modern science? Why believe in God despite the evil in the world? Why believe in Christianity alone? All throughout these questions Oliphint maintains the unabashed centrality of the Word of God as most important for responding to the arguments and objections of the unbeliever. God’s revelation is the true and transcendent foundation for all knowledge, and so to forsake the Bible in the apologetic task is to shoot one’s own foot. This does not mean that Oliphint recommends answering all questions solely with Bible verses; historical evidence and philosophical arguments have their place in the apologetic encounter as well, especially in the act of persuasion. Oliphint handles each question well as an introduction, but some questions are answered better than others; his weakest is perhaps his treatment on life after death, especially in his unclear distinction between the soul and personal consciousness in life after death. Overall, this work is a great introduction to Christian apologetics that remains biblically faithful and theologically robust.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a clear and concise review of the Christian faith, mainly from an apologetics perspective. The chapters are all brief and answer common objections. I found his treatment of relativism and naturalism to be really interesting. This would move into the handful of books I would consider giving to a new Christian trying to understand how Christianity interacts with the world of ideas around us, like Lewis' Mere Christianity or Keller's A Reason for God. There were good nuggets throughout the book. Even if you are conversant with these ideas, Oliphint's approach is stimulating throughout. A good book to strengthen your faith.

[Samantha DeVoir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is decent overall. I thought some portions were more convincing in the arguments than others. Oddly, I was most disappointed with the beginning and the end of the book, while I found the middle to have the best arguments.

If you are struggling in your faith or wanting help in defending your faith, I would honestly recommend a different book. I like Mark Clark's The Problem of God better, and I recommend listening to it as Clark reads it himself.

[James DiPasquale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the Park!

Love Oliphint's logic and reasoning. So easy to read. It must be great to be one of his students. Thank God he has written so many excellent books such as this to allow others to benefit from the tremendous mining into the depths and riches of God's word. I started with his newer work, Covenantal Apologetics, which is also a must read book, and have read several more. Know Why You Believe is Oliphint at some of his best!

[Bobby H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3 1/2 stars. Presupposes belief. Heavy on doctrine and light on countering arguments. Last couple of chapters were shorter. Since the author has the technical expertise I would attribute this to either laziness or just wanting to rush to finish the project.
There are better apologetic books and better doctrine books available.

[Timothy Bandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Apologetic book I have read in a while!

Best Apologetic book I have read in a while! It is good next to Mere Christianity and other great works that you have read in this genre!

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great apologetics book. Taking Presuppositional apologetics and making it make sense. This book is not overly Presuppositional but enough to be consistent and to be accessible. Highest recommendation

[Ming Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to apologetics, particularly in the presuppositional tradition. Refreshed ideas for me and introduced some new ones (like distinguishing between the different types of certainty).

[Laura Luzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed all these sermons on love.

[Megan Meisberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book for a Christian who doesn't read much and wants a very basic beginning to having some more understanding on how to defend Christianity.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and accessible introduction to Christian apologetics.

[Maddie Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine. Not horrible, not amazing.

[Peter Stonecipher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfectly solid introduction to Christian faith and its rationality/defensibility. I would go to some other works first, however: Lewis' 'Mere Christianity' and Keller's 'Reason for God' stand out to me as places I would direct someone before this book. Knowing that Oliphint is a disciple of Cornelius Van Til, I wish some of his presuppositionalism shone through more in this book.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books in this series are well-written and provide great overviews of their respective topics.