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This particular article is a bit on the "heady," side of reading - but worth every minute.

Many have not thought of apologetics (defending the truth of the faith) as including a view of early church history containing evidence of the reality of Jesus and the claims of the Bible. However, in defending the faith, we would be loathe to leave any arguments on the table.

Timothy Paul Jones sets out two arguments for the truth of the God as revealed in Scripture:

I. The early church explosion. This is different that arguing that something true and supernatural had to have occurred in order to transform some fear-ridden disciples into world-changing martyrs. Instead, this argument looks at the explosion of the church from a handful of believers (with very little training compared the the disciples of other upstart religions) at the time of Christ's ascension, to a peaceful explosion of the church across national, political, and social barriers in the ancient world. The church, from this evidence, has a supernatural origin.

II. The early church's countercultural generosity. Contrasted against the backdrop of Roman culture - one that devalued the lives of undesirables and weaklings - Christianity's adherents began caring for the lowly, lame, poor, and outcasts.

Since the notion that the vulnerable have value is ultimately grounded in God’s revelation, secular narratives of evolution and social progress can never provide a coherent rationale for this conviction.

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