When Skeptics Ask
Lesson Overview
When Skeptics Ask with Dr. Norman Geisler
This standalone message is given by Dr. Norman Geisler, philosopher and co-founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary, drawing on his book When Skeptics Ask. Where his other talks defend the Bible and the doctrine of God, this one is a compact apologetics course: a step-by-step case built on a series of “pillars” that lead from the reality of truth all the way to the conclusion that Christianity is true. He frames it around 1 Peter 3:15, always being ready to give a reason for the hope within us. Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video.
The Pillar of Truth
Geisler begins where skeptics often begin, with truth itself. He defines truth simply: truth is what corresponds to reality, “telling it like it is.” He then shows how the common slogans against truth defeat themselves when turned back on themselves:
“There is no truth”, is that true? “You can’t know the truth”, how do you know that? “It’s true for you but not for everyone”, is that statement true for everyone? “There are no absolutes”, is that absolutely true? “You should doubt everything”, should you doubt that? Each skeptical slogan, he argues, quietly assumes the very thing it denies. In a few minutes, he says, one can show that skepticism, agnosticism, and pluralism are all self-destructing. He adds that every truth claim is exclusive: a humanist who says humanism is true and its opposites false is being just as “narrow” as a Christian who says the same of Christianity.
The Pillar of God
Geisler notes there are three basic views of God (theism, God made all; pantheism, God is all; and atheism, no God at all), and gives three classic arguments that the theistic God of the Bible is the one who exists:
The universe had a beginning. Everything that had a beginning had a cause; the universe had a beginning; so it had a cause. His main evidence is the second law of thermodynamics: the universe is running out of usable energy, so (like an hourglass still partly full) it cannot have been running forever. He cites the agnostic astronomer Robert Jastrow and the scientist Francis Collins acknowledging that the universe’s beginning points beyond nature.
Life reveals design. Every complex design has a designer; the universe and life show immense complexity; so they have a designer. He argues a single cell contains information equivalent to a thousand encyclopedias, and the human brain far more, and that a short message like “drink Coke” in skywriting obviously implies an intelligence, so vastly more information does too. He cites the “irreducible complexity” of the eye.
There is a moral law. Every moral law has a moral lawgiver; there is an objective moral law; so there is a moral lawgiver. He argues you cannot call the world unjust without a standard of justice, and cites C.S. Lewis, who abandoned atheism partly on this point (you cannot call a line crooked without knowing what straight is).
Putting the three together yields a super-powerful, super-intelligent, morally perfect being: the God of theism. And because opposites cannot both be true, establishing theism rules out atheism and pantheism, and with them the non-theistic religions, narrowing the world’s faiths to three: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Pillar of Miracles
Geisler argues that if a theistic God exists, miracles are possible, since a God who can create the universe from nothing can certainly do lesser acts. He answers the famous objection of David Hume (that the evidence for the regular always outweighs the evidence for the rare) by noting that naturalists themselves believe in singular, unrepeated events: the Big Bang happened once, life arose once, and (in their account) evolution’s great transitions happened once. So a rare, one-time event can be reasonably believed on evidence.
He frames a miracle as an act of God that confirms the word of God through a prophet of God. This becomes the test for which of the three theistic religions is true: the one confirmed by miracles.
The Pillar of the New Testament’s Reliability
Before turning to Jesus’ miracles, Geisler argues the New Testament is historically reliable, indeed the best-attested book of the ancient world. He points to the large number of manuscripts (thousands, versus a handful for most ancient works), their early date (within a century of the events, while eyewitnesses lived), their accuracy of copying, and the number of independent writers. He cites the manuscript scholar Sir Frederick Kenyon on the security of the text, and notes archaeological confirmations (the House of David inscription, the Pilate inscription, the Caiaphas ossuary) and the assessment of archaeologist Nelson Glueck that no discovery has ever contradicted the Bible. His point: to dismiss the New Testament, one would have to throw out all of ancient history.
The Pillar of Christ
The case culminates in Jesus. Geisler argues that of the three theistic religions, only Christianity is confirmed by miracles in its founder, and he makes a specific comparison with Islam: by the Quran’s own testimony, he says, Jesus was virgin-born, sinless, called Messiah, and performed miracles (which Muhammad, by that account, did not), and Jesus ascended while Muhammad’s body remained in the grave. This is his apologetic argument from a Christian standpoint; Muslims would present and interpret their scriptures differently.
He then argues Jesus claimed to be God (taking the divine name “I AM,” accepting worship and prayer, claiming all authority) and proved it by three sets of miracles: fulfilling supernatural predictions, performing supernatural acts, and rising from the dead. On the prophecies, he traces the narrowing chain (the line of Abraham, tribe of Judah, house of David, born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, at the time set in Daniel 9) to argue only one person fits. On the death and resurrection, he marshals the medical and historical evidence that Jesus truly died (citing a 1986 Journal of the American Medical Association analysis) and rose (the empty tomb, the many eyewitnesses, the meals, the transformation of the disciples).
The Conclusion: Christianity Is True
Geisler assembles the whole chain: there is absolute truth; a theistic God exists; therefore miracles are possible; the New Testament is historically reliable; in it Jesus claimed to be God and proved it by miracles; and Jesus affirmed that the Bible is the Word of God. Therefore, he concludes, the Bible is the Word of God and Christianity is true, not merely a good story but true. He ends on Jesus’ own exclusive claim (“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me”) and repeats the charge of 1 Peter 3:15 that every believer, not just the pastor, should be able to give an answer.
Key Terms
Apologetics: the reasoned defense of the Christian faith (1 Peter 3:15).
Correspondence view of truth: the definition that truth is what matches reality.
Self-defeating statement: a claim that fails its own standard (for example, “there is no truth”).
The cosmological argument: reasoning from the universe’s beginning to a Creator.
The teleological (design) argument: reasoning from complexity and order to a Designer.
The moral argument: reasoning from objective moral law to a moral Lawgiver.
Verses to Know
1 Peter 3:15, always be ready to give a reason for your hope. 2 Corinthians 10:5, destroying arguments raised against the knowledge of God. Romans 1:19-20, God’s attributes seen in creation. Acts 17, Paul among theists, pantheists, and atheists at Athens. John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Acts 4:12, no other name by which we must be saved.
Takeaway
Geisler argues that a chain of reason leads step by step from the undeniable reality of truth, through the existence of a theistic God, the possibility of miracles, and the reliability of the New Testament, to Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God and proved it by fulfilled prophecy, mighty works, and the resurrection, so that Christianity is not merely comforting but demonstrably true, and every believer should be ready to say why.