1. I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth : And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord ; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried ; he descended into hell ; the third day he rose again from the dead ; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy catholic church ; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen

4. “What I believe in my heart must make sense in my mind” - Ravi Zacharias

5. Believe - Pisteuo (1) to consider something to be true and therefore worthy of one’s trust (2) to entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence

6. Poll: Belief in UFOs Matches Belief in OT, NT as Word of God By Eric Young Christian Post Reporter Thu, Dec. 11 2008 01:51 PM EST A little more than a third of Americans believe all the text in the Old Testament or all the text in the New Testament represent the Word of God, according to the results of a newly released poll. That’s about the same as the percentage of people who believe in UFOs (36 percent) and less than the amount of people who believe in ghosts (44 percent), Harris Interactive found through its online survey.

8. “When one person suffers from a delusion, it's called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it's called religion.” -Robert Pirsig, American writer and philosopher

9. Why do people believe what they believe? Sociological Culture Friends Parents Society PsychologicalReligious Comfort Hope Identity/Meaning Peace of Mind Church Guru Holy Book Pastor

10. Why should people believe what they believe? Philosophical Approach – To ascertain facts or truth and the causes of things. Philosophical Approach – To ascertain facts or truth and the causes of things. Something is worth believing if it is… Rational Supported by evidence The best reason for explaining the gathered data

11. “People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive” – Blaise Pascal

12. “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered. ” - C. S. Lewis

13. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” - Colossians 2:8

14. "Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;"(Proverbs 2:2) "For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;"(Proverbs 2:6-10)

15. The Philosophical Tests for Any Valid Belief System: 1.Logical Consistency 2.Empirical Adequacy 3.Existential Relevancy

16. “They [religious beliefs] are illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest, and most urgent wishes of mankind. We call belief an illusion when a wish-fulfillment is a prominent factor in its motivation, and in doing so we disregard its relation to reality, just as the illusion itself sets no store by verification” - Sigmund Freud

17. Epistemology… The branch of philosophy that investigates the nature and origin of knowledge

18. Epistemology… The branch of philosophy that investigates the nature and origin of knowledge

19. Forming a Belief… “Beliefs are simply not to be equated with truth or reality; rather, they are to conform to truth” - Paul Copan

20. “Hence we account simultaneously for the two facts that beliefs (a) depend on minds for their existence, (b) do not depend on minds for their truth.” - Betrand Russell, Atheist, The Problems of Philosophy

21. Knowledge… “When the knower and the known become one” – Thomas Aquinas

22. Five Means of Gaining Knowledge 1.Authoritarianism (Faith) – Testimony 2.Subjectivism – Intuition & direct contact 3.Rationalism – Through reason alone 4.Empiricism – Experience via the senses 5.Pragmatism – Through natural sciences Which source(s) of knowledge does Christianity rely on?

23. “If we take in our hand any volume of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance, let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.” - David Hume

24. A. J. Ayer Logical Positivism (Scientism) Is the truth claim a tautology? Is the truth claim empirically verifiable? If not, then it is meaningless and emotive at best. All God talk is meaningless

25. “There is an important difference between the scientific and legal methods for determining truth. The legal method does not ignore testimony or facts because they are not reproducible or testable. By a process of elimination and corroboration, the legal method allows history and testimony to speak for itself until a verdict is reached beyond a reasonable doubt and the balance of probability is achieved. I did not witness various battles that occurred through history and I cannot reproduce WWII so I must rely on documents and independent testimony to determine its plausibility. Certain kinds of tests are appropriate for different realms of thought.” - Joe Boot

26. "And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe." - John 19:35

29. Frederick Nietzsche on Faith: “When faith is thus exalted above everything else, it necessarily follows that reason, knowledge and patient inquiry have to be discredited: the road to the truth becomes a forbidden road.” “Faith means not wanting to know what is true.”

30. Immanuel Kant on Faith: “I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith.” - Critique of Pure Reason “Facts have nothing to do with religion.”

32. How do you Reconcile Faith and Reason in Christian Belief?

33. "And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” - Mark 2:3-12

34. What Part does Man Play and What Part does God Play in Belief?

37. The Role of God in Matters of Belief

38. The Role of the Holy Spirit in Belief

39. General Revelation "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.“ (Romans 1:20) Revelatory Authoritarianism The primary foundation of Christian Belief Special Revelation "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.“ (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Ontological Revelation "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation … For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,“ (Colossians 1:15,2:9)

40. General Revelation “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25) Revelatory Authoritarianism That is Rejected by Fallen Mankind Special Revelation "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.“ (2 Timothy 4:3-4) Ontological Revelation "the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;“ (1 Corinthians 2:8)

41. Christianity is Worthy of Belief and Trust Because… It is logically consistent, with no contradictory teaching (rationalism, but not omitting revelation) It is empirically verifiable; grounded in space/time history through the legal process of evidence (empiricism) It is existentially relevant as no other system adequately explains our world as it exists (empiricism via the senses) It is carried via trustworthy testimony (authoritarian) It is life-changing (subjectivism) It is verifiable via the orderly universe in which all live (pragmatic)

42. Christianity is Different Than All Other Belief Systems. All Others Are… Epistemological – The path to God or enlightenment is through knowledge Pragmatic – The path to God or enlightenment is through works Existential – The path to God or enlightenment is through an experience

45. Is belief just a matter of … Thinking logically? … Examining the evidence? … Recognizing reality? No. People act contrary to evidence all the time. There are brilliant people who are believers in Christ and brilliant people who choose to disbelieve.

46. “I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope that there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.” - Thomas Nagel Professor of Philosophy, New York

49. “Truth is subjectivity” – Soren Kierkegaard

51. The Truth Calls For a Decision To answer that question you must come to examine the claims of Christ, know what you believe and why…

52. Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross Depths/Levels of Belief… That’s history Jesus Christ died for me That’s the Gospel

53. "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” -James 2:19 “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?” - Matthew 23:33 What Level of Belief Saves?

56. “I believe in order that I may understand” - Anselm “He who would become educated should begin by trusting his teacher. He will never master his science unless he presumes in the beginning that the doctrine being presented is true even if, for the moment, he cannot tell why.” - Thomas Aquinas

57. “How can you live out your faith without truly understanding it…?” - John Hannah

58. I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth : And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord ; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried ; he descended into hell ; the third day he rose again from the dead ; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy catholic church ; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen