Chapter 1: “The Robbery of Neutrality” or Don’t tie your hands behind your back in a fight.

From time to time, I will post summaries of notes I have made on the book "Always Ready" by Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen.  I am reading through this book with a group of men from the church.  The subject is Apologetics.  The material is very good, but very deep and technical.  I write these notes for the group in an attempt to make the material more accessible.  Hopefully it will be of use to someone.

Chapter 1: “The Robbery of Neutrality” or Don’t tie your hands behind your back in a fight.

Neutrality = We cannot assume the Bible is true

If we accept this then:

• The Bible and God have no place in a discussion of history, science, art, etc because it is not truth and not provable
• We must approach any debate with unbelievers on the same level they are, by assuming with them that the Bible is not necessarily true
• Our witness is ineffective and our walk is aimless, with no clear purpose.

God disagrees:

• All wisdom and knowledge is in the person of Christ.  Col 2:3-8
• Christ is truth, therefore if Christ is absent, there is no truth and you will be misled.  Jn 14:6
• We don’t find God at the end of a search for knowledge.  Knowing Him is the beginning of all knowledge.  Pr 1:7,9:10

• If we do not presuppose that Christ is true, then we will not be firm in our beliefs and we will be convinced by their arguments rather than convincing them.  Col 2:7,8
• If we are robbed of the treasures of the knowledge of God by the arguments of men, we are at risk of losing our salvation with Christ by turning away from him and denying His reality.  Col2:8