Faulty appeals

• Amos 7:10-17; Jeremiah 38:1-6 – God’s prophets were often rejected without reasoning through their warnings. People tried to ignore or stop their message with force.

• What is it?

  • Appealing to faulty sources of authority might be very effective or persuasive, but it is faulty reasoning because it does not prove a proposition.

  • The appeal to force/fear: “You better accept my claim or there will be consequences!”

    • Daniel 3:6

    • You do not see this sort of appeal in the New Testament. The apostles did not try to force people to be baptized.

  • The appeal to emotion: attempting to persuade people by stirring powerful emotions rather than making a logical case.

    • Matthew 27:17-26

  • The appeal to pity: a particular type of the appeal to emotion that occurs when an arguer tries to persuade people to accept a position by generating sympathy for those who hold the position.

    • I Peter 3:8-9

  • The appeal to ignorance: the fallacy of appealing to the unknown; specifically, it is when a person argues that a claim is probably true simply because it has never been proven false.

  • The appeal to the majority of what’s popular: the fallacy of deciding proof by opinion polls.

    • Matthew 7:13-14

• Spiritual importance

  • Acts 4:14, 21; 5:18, 28, 40

  • What about preachers who primarily tell anecdotes and poignant stories instead of reasoning with people from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2)?

  • “What about the tribal member deep in the jungle who’s never had a Bible and doesn’t know about Jesus?”

    • John 3:36; 14:6; Acts 4:12 – We have to obey what we do know. God is the judge of all.

  • “If you teach creation in this school, we’ll sue you.”

    • This is a realistic example. David Gelernter, professor at Yale.

Philippians 1:27-2:4

Philippians 1:27 – Our conduct should be worthy of the gospel (up to the standard of the gospel).

• Standing for God – Matthew 12:25; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 6:11, 13; 4:12; I Corinthians 10:12; 15:1

• Striving together for the faith – Jude 1:3

Philippians 1:28 – There are adversaries, even within the church. If we strive together, we can stand against them.

Philippians 1:29-30 – Striving builds us up in the faith.

• Acts 5 – Suffering for Christ has great value.

• Revelation 2:13

• Despite all the suffering and conflict the Philippians were faced with, they continued to grow!

Philippians 2:1-2 – What to do about conflict and suffering? Be united in serving God!

Philippians 2:3-4 – We are no good in battle if we only think of ourselves. Looking out for others first gives us courage.

Ephesians 6:10-18

Why follow spiritual pursuits?

• I Peter 2:11; Romans 7:22-25

Matthew 17:5; Hebrews 1:1-2; Acts 3:22-23

II Peter 1:3

II Corinthians 11:3

Genesis 3:6

I John 2:15-17

II Corinthians 11:14-15

Romans 8:6-9, 13-14

Romans 13:14

I John 3:8

Romans 6:16-18

Philippians 2:25; Philemon 1:2

II Timothy 2:3

Ephesians 6:10-18

This is heaven’s armor, but it is for us.

• Revelation 2:10; I timothy 6:12

• II Corinthians 10:3-5

• Matthew 4:1-11

• Hebrews 2:14

• I Peter 5:8

We must put on all the armor of God.

• Ephesians 6:13

• I Timothy 4:16

• James 1:21

• Ephesians 4:14

• Colossians 2:8

• Jude 1:3

• I John 3:7

• Psalms 119:172

• Romans 10:17

• Psalms 119:105

• Colossians 3:16

Ephesians 6:15 – preparation of the gospel

• I Peter 3:15

• I Peter 2:2

• Hebrews 6:1

• I Timothy 4:13, 16

• Hebrews 5:12-14

• Jeremiah 6:10

• Hosea 4:6

• I Timothy 3:15

• Matthew 7:13-15

• Philippians 2:15

• Psalms 1:1-2; 119:15-16

• II Timothy 3:16-17

• II Timothy 1:3

• Titus 2:1

• I Peter 3:15

Ephesians 6:16 – the shield of faith

• Galatians 3:26

• Hebrews 11:1

• Romans 10:17

• John 20:30-31

• Hebrews 2:10

• Matthew 28:18

• Proverbs 3:5-7

• John 10:27-28

Ephesians 6:17 – helmet of salvation

• Ephesians 1:3

• Matthew 5:45

• II Timothy 2:1, 10

• Ephesians 1:7

• Romans 6:4

• Galatians 3:27

• Colossians 3:1-3

• Philippians 4:8

Ephesians 6:17 – sword of the spirit

• This it he only offensive spiritual weapon we have, but it is the most powerful weapon known to man.

• II Corinthians 10:3-5

• Hebrews 4:12

• II Peter 1:5-10

Ephesians 6:18 – prayer is how we communicate with the Commander in this warfare

• I Thessalonians 5:17

• Luke 18:1

• Hebrews 12:1

• Philippians 3:13-14

• Revelation 2:10

• I Peter 1:22-23

John 1:1, 14

“In the beginning was the Word”

• John 1:1-3, 14-15

• Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2

• Genesis 3:15

• Galatians 4:4

• Hebrews 2:14

• I John 3:8

• Deuteronomy 18:15

• Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7

• Matthew 1:20-23

• I Corinthians 2:6-9 – God’s plan came before creation!

• Ephesians 1:4

• II Timothy 1:9-10

“And the word became flesh.”

• John 1:14

• Micah 5:2

• Luke 2:4-7, 10-20, 24 – Jesus was humble from the beginning.

• Mark 6:1-4

• John 1:46

• Philippians 2:5-8

• Hebrews 4:15

“John testified about Him”

• John 1:15, 23

• Matthew 3:7-12

• Jesus grew up to say …

  • Matthew 5:44; 6:24; 7:21; 10:34; 20:27

  • Mark 8:38

Ephesians 4:25

Ad hominem (Latin for “to the man”)

• What is it?

  • Attacking an opponent’s character or his motives for believing something instead of disproving his argument.

  • Ad hominem arguments fail because they avoid the issue.

  • Daniel 2:47 – Nebuchadnezzar was not a good person, but here he made a true statement.

• Spiritual importance

  • If one advocates some point, but also has a character problem, that reflects poorly on their character but does not necessarily mean their point was invalid. This is certainly not to say that character doesn’t matter – it does. Romans 2:1-3, 17-24; I Timothy 4:12, 16; Matthew 23:2-3

  • It’s easy to resort to ad hominem attacks. If we don’t know how to answer some else’s line of reasoning, we may get emotional and strike back at the other person themselves, which is irrelevant and immature. Acts 6:8-14

    • Let’s be good thinkers and choose to slow down and be rational instead of calling names or making other such attacks.

  • In past decades, when brethren were debating the issue of whether orphan homes ought to be supported by individuals or by church treasuries (James 1:27), many personal attacks were launched.

    • “If an orphan was left on your doorstep, you’d let him starve!”

  • One could listen to those kinds of accusations all day and still not know what the Bible said about the issue.

  • “Christianity isn’t true. You just believe in Christianity because you were brought up in a Christian home.” This avoids the question of whether or not Christianity is true.

  • “Those people are just saying that because they’re religious.”

  • “Why should we believe Solomon when he tells us to be satisfied with ‘the wife of your youth’ (Proverbs 5:18)? He wasn’t.”

  • Attacks against Jesus:

    • Matthew 11:18-19

    • Mark 6:3

    • Compare John 1:46 – but at least Nathanael was willing to investigate.