Applied Biblical Apologetics

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$300.00
$300.00
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In this 36 week guided and interactive online high school course, students will defend each and every major Biblical doctrine of the Christian faith against real live skeptics on their own forums. Students will work in pairs and will plan and reflect on each engagement. Please scroll down for more information.

"...For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..." -- II Corinthians 10:4-5

Additional resources required:

  • None

So, what's the story?

Have you ever been attacked by a gate?

Maybe a more embarrassing question is, “Have you ever been defeated by one?”

If Paul told us that our weapons are for “tearing down strongholds,” and Jesus said that “the gates of Hell will not stand against [the Church],” then why are we living on the defensive?

I learned this the hard way in two ways.

The first is that my high school was ranked 4th academically in the nation, with a debate team that had been national champions for as long as anyone could remember — most of whom were hostile to Christianity. Consequently, I learned early that I needed to carry my Bible to Math class, or I was going to get waylaid by classmates and teachers. I was “standing down” Ph.D.’s in apologetics battles from the time I was 15 years old.

The second way was harder, and thus, more relevant.

I worked with youth in Columbus, GA, and had trained (or so I thought) several members of the group to use the Bible effectively. They graduated, went to college, had their faith shredded there, came back, and bled out in my arms. I swore in that day: NEVER AGAIN!!

These two experiences forged this course. The need to ensure that the students are prepared to fight their own battles by having to struggle to strength, and the need to ensure that they do not despair before they succeed.

You see, there is nothing wrong with the Sword. It is only in the swordsman where the failing lies.

To graduate high school, our students must attain certain academic skills. What are their skills, before our churches pronounce them “graduated”?

Paul, at the Areopagus, opened with “I have wandered about your city, and I have seen that you are a religious people.…” Can we train to the Areopagus Standard, so our students can wander about “their city” and understand the type of religious people that they are going to encounter?
 

Adult accomplishments:

  1. Every major doctrine of the Christian faith defended against real skeptics on the skeptic's forum, while still in a supportive environment
  2. An identified disciple to whom the student will pass on what they have learned
  3. A prescribed "path to reconciliation/repentance" for a personal and an organizational problem faced by a real person and a real organization

Transferable Skills:

  1. The ability to cite "chapter and verse" for whatever they claim to believe
  2. The ability to answer objections from all sorts of skeptics to the Christian faith
  3. The ability to stand up under academic attack on their faith from college professors and other professional skeptics
  4. The ability to deal with personal problems in a Biblical way
  5. The ability to solve organizational problems Biblically
  6. The ability to win any argument
  7. The ability to evaluate the arguments that people bring about all sorts of topics
  8. The ability to understand others' viewpoint, without having to fall into the pitfalls of that viewpoint

What careers will this course give me a leg up on?

  1. Pastor - Average Salary: $48,270 (https://www.payscale.com)
  2. Youth Pastor - Average Salary: $40,000 (https://www.glassdoor.com)
  3. Counselor - Average Salary: $40,772 (https://www.glassdoor.com)
  4. Christian Author - Average Salary: $61,240 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
  5. Teacher - Average Salary: $58,030 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
  6. Lawyer - Average Salary: $118,160 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
  7. Investigative Journalist - Average Salary: $37,820 (https://www.careeronestop.org)

General syllabus (Subject to change as needed)

  • Course Start: 23 August 2021
  • Week 1:
    • Complete an Observation Worksheet on a difficult passage
  • Week 2:
    • Complete an Interpretation Worksheet on the same passage
  • Week 3:
    • Learn the Doctrine of God
    • Critique classmates' interpretation documents
  • Week 4:
    • Plan with partner your attack on a stronghold that dares to elevate itself against the Doctrine of God
  • Week 5:
    • Conduct coordinated attack to demolish the first stronghold against the Doctrine of God
    • Write reflection on your experiences in the attack
  • Week 6:
    • Learn Doctrine of the Bible
    • Plan attack on second stronghold against Doctrine of God
  • Week 7:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of God
    • Plan attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of the Bible
  • Week 8:
    • Learn correlation: Introduction to the "Polygon Method"
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of the Bible
  • Week 9:
    • Learn Doctrine of Man
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Bible
  • Week 10:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Bible
    • Plan partnered attack on stronghold against Doctrine of Man
  • Week 11:
    • Learn Doctrine of Sin
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Man
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Man
  • Week 12:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Man
    • Plan partnered attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Sin
  • Week 13: Thanksgiving Week
    • Learn Doctrine of Jesus Christ
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Sin
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Sin
  • Week 14:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Sin
    • Plan partnered attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Christ
  • Week 15:
    • Learn Doctrine of Salvation
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against the Doctrine of Christ
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Christ
  • Week 16:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on the 2nd stronghold against the Doctrine of Christ
    • Plan partnered attack on the 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Salvation
  • Christmas Vacation: 13 December 2021 - 2 January 2022
  • Week 17:
    • Learn Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
    • Execute and reflect on attack on the 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Salvation
    • Plan partnered attack on a 2nd stronghold against the Doctrine of Salvation
  • Week 18:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on the 2nd stronghold against the Doctrine of Salvation
    • Choose different partner
    • With new partner, plan attack on stronghold against Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
  • Week 19:
    • Learn Doctrine of Angels
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
  • Week 20:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
    • Plan partnered attack on stronghold against Doctrine of Angels
  • Week 21:
    • Learn Doctrine of Future Things
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Angels
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Angels
  • Week 22:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Angels
    • Plan partnered attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Future Things
  • Week 23:
    • Learn Application: the "Polygon Method" revisited
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of Future Things
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Future Things
  • Week 24:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of Future Things
    • Plan partnered attack on a 3rd stronghold against either Doctrine of the Bible or Doctrine of Sin
  • Week 25:
    • Learn: Prescribing Healing Paths
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 3rd stronghold (planned last week)
  • Week 26:
    • Learn Doctrine of the Family
  • Week 27:
    • Choose a new partner
    • Plan partnered attack on stronghold against Doctrine of the Family
  • Week 28:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of the Family
    • Plan partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Family
  • Week 29:
    • Learn Doctrine of the Church
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Family
    • Locate situation with greatest need for Doctrine of the Family and plan healing path(s)
  • Week 30:
    • Publish your healing path proposal in a forum targeting those in the situation that called for the healing paths
    • Reflect on the reactions to your publishing it
    • Plan a partnered attack on a stronghold against the Doctrine of the Church
  • Spring Break: 11 - 17 April 2022
  • Week 31:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 1st stronghold against Doctrine of the Church
    • Plan a partnered attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Church
  • Week 32:
    • With partner, find a church in trouble and propose a Biblical solution to that church's problem
  • Week 33:
    • Execute and reflect on attack on 2nd stronghold against Doctrine of the Church
    • Identify someone to pass on what you have learned in this course (disciple)
    • Publish your solution to the troubled church's problem in a forum designed to do the most good to the members of that church
  • Week 34:
    • Propose your Discipleship Plan for the protege that you have identified
    • Journey of Learning Narrative
  • Week 35:
    • Socialize the results of your efforts in this course
    • Provide record of the first step in executing your Discipleship Plan
  • Week 36:
    • Provide record of having executed 2nd step in your Discipleship Plan
  • Course End: 28 May 2022

Expected Work Load

  • Typically one or more tasks that you must perform to move your project iteratively "down the road"
  • One or more discussion questions from the teacher to answer
  • Responding to classmates' answers to the discussion questions
  • Ensuring that you go through any of the learning activities for skills where you are not yet proficient to help you in future weeks' tasks

***All of this is designed to take you about 5 focused hours per week, which is less than you would have if you were attending class in a traditional school.

How can i write this up on a high school transcript?

  1. As a Bible credit, given the extensive study of the different doctrines of the Christian faith that the student will have had to undergo in an effort to defend them
  2. As a Philosophy credit, given the extensive study of argumentation and logic (with its associated fallacies) that the student will have had to put into practice in making their various cases
  3. As an English credit, given the amount of writing that the student will have had to complete, from their planning, making their arguments, and then reflecting on them in writing in order to inform the next round of arguments.