Apologetics Part 1 Notes

🧭 Session 1: “How Do We Know What’s True?” — Epistemology in a Digital Age

1. Welcome & Framing the Course (5–7 min)

• A. Hook / Opening Illustrations
  • Rapture Prediction (video)
  • The trinity invented by Constantine (video)
  • Cat stopped by cops (video)

“Is this true? How would you know?

• B. Why Apologetics Matters
  • 1 Peter 3:15 — “Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you…”
  •  apologetics is not just for scholars but for everyday believers navigating a noisy world.
• C. Course Overview
  • Briefly outline upcoming sessions: epistemology → evidence for God in creation→ The reliability of Scripture → Jesus’ claims → Evidence for the resurrection, can only one religion be true?, knowing Actual Church history.

1. Defining Epistemology (10–12 min)

• A. What is Epistemology?
  • Epistēmē (Greek: knowledge) + logos (study).
  • The study of knowledge—how we know what we know.
• B. Key Questions of Epistemology:

1. What is truth?
2. Can we know truth?
3. How do we know it?

• C. Biblical Foundation for Knowing Truth
  • John 14:6 — Jesus as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
  • Isaiah 1:18 — “Come, let us reason together…”
  • Acts 17: Paul reasons in the marketplace and synagogues.

III. Competing Views of Truth (15 min)

• A. Classical / Correspondence Theory
  • Truth corresponds to reality. -When What I think is true corresponds to reality. Example: I think I left my glasses on the desk but they are on my head. So I walk around all day with the glasses on my head because I feel I left them on my desk. My feelings and opinions don’t dictate what is true.

• B. Postmodern / Relative Truth
  • “What’s true for you isn’t true for me.” → leads to moral and epistemic chaos.
    • Example -What if I just take your stuff but my truth is “its not stealing”
    • Problem with this theory is it isn’t based in reality.
• C. Critical theory- is the current application of post- modern thinking in the western world. We might call it wokeism or antiracism or neo Marxism but it all  comes under this banner. Critical theory is not concerned with matching what we believe is true to reality. It is based on four ideas
  • The social binary-
  • Hegemonic power
  • Lived experience
  • Social justice
• The social binary divides society into groups divided by race, gender religion and sexual identity. as oppressor groups or oppressed groups. oppressor groups (typically white male Christian heterosexual conservative) also considered as privileged are see as the oppressor any other races, sexual orientations, genders, gender identities ect are seen as the oppressed
• Hegemonic power is a second concept that’s central to contemporary critical theory’s understanding of oppression. Traditionally, oppression referred to cruelty, tyranny, or sustained injustice. However, in the 1960s, critical theorists redefined oppression to refer to the subtle ways in which the ruling class, whether Whites or men or heterosexuals or Christians, imposes their values, norms, and expectations on the rest of culture to justify their own power and privilege.
• If all people, whether they belong to oppressed or oppressor groups, are socialized into oppressive hegemonic norms, how are these norms recognized?
• Lived Experience-Both oppressed people and oppressors take for granted the norms and values of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and heterosexism. However, oppressed people simultaneously experience racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia in their daily lives, allowing them to achieve a “critical” or “liberatory” consciousness. Colloquially, they can “get woke.” They can see through the thinly veiled excuses and rationalizations that blind the rest of us to the reality of systemic oppression. As a consequence, those of us with privileged backgrounds should defer to people with oppressed backgrounds, just as a blind man would defer to the guidance of someone who can see.
• Social Justice-Finally, the end goal of contemporary critical theory is social justice, defined as the elimination of the social binary. By dismantling the systems, structures, and hegemonic discourses that perpetuate the power of privileged groups, we can achieve a state of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• But as you can tell from the chaos created by this worldview it doesn’t work. It doesn’t create dialogue but rather hate and division and eventually violence. Why because that’s the way Marxism or communism works. Blame others for your problems defeat the other person you have the power now you are the problem to be defeated. It is and endless cycle.

• D. Christian View of Truth
  • Rooted in God’s unchanging nature (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2).
  • Truth is both objective (exists outside of us) and personal (revealed ultimately in Christ).

1. Epistemology in the Digital Age

• A. The Challenge of Information Overload
  • Billions of pieces of content → not all sources equal.
  • Algorithms reward engagement, not accuracy.
    • Example: The “news” you see is curated personally for your interests. This is why it is possible for 2 people living in the same town to get completely different news stories. It isolates us and places us in a bubble.
• B. Common Digital Age “Knowledge Shortcuts”
  • Trusting popularity, emotion, speed, tribal affiliation, or celebrity over evidence. Its tempting to get knowledge quick but people stop reading books or taking actual classes. And accumulate a lot of wrong information.
• C. Misinformation & Authority Crisis
  • Decline of traditional gatekeepers → rise of influencers, echo chambers, deepfakes.
• D. The Christian’s Call to Discernment
  • 1 Thess. 5:21 — “Test everything; hold fast what is good.”
  • Acts 17:11 — Bereans examined Scriptures daily to verify Paul’s claims.
  • Proverbs 18:17 — “The first to state his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.”

1. Equipping for Discernment

• A. A Simple Framework for Evaluating Claims
  1. Source: Who’s saying it? Are they credible?
  2. Evidence: What supports the claim?
  3. Logic: Does it follow? Any fallacies?
  4. Scripture: Does it align with God’s revealed truth?
  5. Community: How does the body of Christ discern this?
• B. Spiritual Discernment vs Skepticism

• • Discernment ≠ cynicism. It’s testing with humility, prayer, and rea