Introduction

• Philippians 2:14-16

• Christians try to live differently than others in the world.

• Some people will not like the way we live.

My righteousness judges others.

• Hebrews 11:7 – Noah condemned the world by living righteously and building the ark.

• Matthew 12:41-42 – The Ninevites repented, thus they would condemn others at the judgment.

• Romans 12:20 – Doing good to those who wrong you convicts and embarrasses them.

• No one should approve of sin just to keep from embarrassing others.

If people are determined to sin, you can’t stop them.

• Romans 1:21-32

• Romans 6:1

• We have all sinned, but we strive not to.

I cannot participate in or approve of sin.

• Romans 1:32 – Committing and approving sin are both wrong.

• Romans 6:23

• Proverbs 8:13

• Romans 12:2, 9 – We must train ourselves to abhor evil.

• II Corinthians 6:14

Interact with others like Jesus did.

• John 8:3-11 – The Jews presented Jesus with a rigged setup. The witnesses all left, so there was no one to condemn the woman. Jesus was not being soft on sin – he was applying the Law of Moses correctly. He used their own guilt to defuse the situation. No witnesses, thus no conviction and no execution.

Circular reasoning (begging the question), continued:

• Spiritual importance, continued:

  • Matthew 26:63-66 – The Pharisees assumed Jesus was not the Son of God, therefore when He claimed to be deity, they assumed He was blaspheming.

  • Evolutionists often use the similarity of DNA in different life forms as proof that those life forms came from a single ancestor.

  • Circular reasoning is used to date rock layers and fossils. The evolutionary timeline is assumed to be true, dates are assigned to fossils, and thus to rocks in which those fossils are found.

The question-begging epithet (biased words)

• What is it?

  • “… the arguer uses biased (often emotional) language to persuade people rather than using logic.”

  • Example: “That is the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard.”

• Spiritual importance

  • “Let’s open up our Bibles and discover whether or not this ridiculous doctrine is true.”

    • Maybe it is true that the doctrine is ridiculous but starting like this we prevent an objective assessment of the facts.

  • Examples regarding creation and evolution:

    • “Our department is becoming infested with creationists.”

    • “Creationists believe that the universe is young, but the best scientists tell us that it is billions of years old.”

  • Serene Jones: “Crucifixion is not something that God is orchestrating from upstairs. The pervasive idea of an abusive God-father who sends His own kid to the cross so God could forgive people is nuts.”

• Four things Paul prays for:

  • A love that abounds more and more

    • Knowledge: Romans 10:1; II Peter 1:5; 3:18

    • Discernment: Hebrews 5:14; I Kings 3:9

  • Being able to approve the things that are excellent

    • I Thessalonians 5:21; Romans 12:9

    • We need to test all things to see if they are worthy of our approval. This does not mean trying everything ourselves. We should learn from others.

    • We may sometimes have to decide between two good things.

  • Being sincere and blameless

  • Being filled with the fruit of righteousness

    • Galatians 5:22; I John 3:7; John 15:8; Hebrews 12:11

    • John 15:5 – There are consequences of not bearing fruit. II Peter 1:5-8

Titus 2:14

Introduction

• If we are to be zealous for good deeds, we must take the initiative.

Two people who took the initiative:

• David (I Samuel 17)

  • I Samuel 17:32, 37, 47-53 – David took initiative to go out to Goliath.

• Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1-6)

  • Nehemiah 1:1-4 – Nehemiah fasts and prays.

  • Nehemiah 2:5, 15-18 – Nehemiah prepares to work.

  • Nehemiah 4:4-6, 14, 17 – Nehemiah lead the people to work.

  • Nehemiah 6:15 – The wall is completed in 52 days.

How to take the initiative:

• We need to care.

  • Romans 5:8 – God took the initiative in sending Jesus!

  • Acts 17:15-17 – Paul cared for the people enough to begin talking to them.

  • Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) – “Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.”

• It helps to get others involved.

  • Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 – Companionship helps!

• We must find the need and act!

  • Luke 10:27-37 – The parable of the good Samaritan. We should be looking for ways to be a neighbor to others!

  • Why not me?

False analogy (continued)

• Romans 7:2-3 – Marriage, divorce, and remarriage

  • “Take two people and bind them with a rope. If you cut the rope, how many people are free? Both. So, if one is free, the other is free. Any divorced person can remarry.”

  • The rope is a false analogy. It does not accurately reflect the way God’s law works.

• Luke 15:18 – The parable of the prodigal son, or the older son.

  • “If my grown child falls away, I should not seek him out, appeal to him, study with him, etc. It’s his job to get up and come to me.”

  • The parable is about the response of the older son when his brother returned, not about how to reach out to a sinner.

  • Compare Galatians 6:1; Matthew 15:18; James 5:19. We should try to restore lost brethren.

Circular reasoning (begging the question)

• What is it?

  • A good argument provides a reason to believe that argument. Circular reasoning fails to do so – it simply circles back to the argument itself.

• Spiritual importance

  • Circular reasoning does not prove anything. We should be careful not to resort to this in spiritual studies and discussions.

  • Mark 2:1-12 – Jesus did not use circular reasoning to prove that He had authority to forgive sins. Instead, He offered actual proof by healing a paralytic man.

  • “That doctrine can’t be true because that’s what _______ teach.” (Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Calvinists, etc.)

  • “The Bible cannot be true because it contains miracles, and miracles violate the laws of nature!”

  • “The Bible cannot be true because it teaches that the earth is only thousands of years old; whereas, we know the earth is billions of years old.”

  • “Creation cannot be true because you would have to ignore all that scientific evidence.”