Part 1 Outline:
Paul in verse 1-6 talks about the law and how it can get to people. Watch people of false circumcision. We should put no confidence in the flesh. He also references his persecuting days of the church and how he was held up on the law. A Pharisee of the law and that righteousness’ was through the law. We should not put are confidence in just the flesh even if we have good reasons.
Verse 7- All the things he has gained; he has lost when he came to Christ.
Verse 8-  All the things Paul has lost were nothing compared to the knowledge of Christ.
Verse 9-  We do not get righteousness through the law, but from Faith alone in Jesus Christ. Righteousness comes from the basis of faith in God.
Verse 10- He wants to know the power of his resurrection from his sufferings.
Verse 11- Somehow having a glimpse of the power of the resurrection of the dead.
Verse 12- He has attained this and reached a goal, but he presses on to keep hold of what has hold on me of which Christ had hold of me.
Verse 13- Paul doesn’t consider that he has made it on his. He however does consider that he has left the past behind and is moving towards the future.
Verse 14- Paul wishes to press toward the Goal and prize of God in Christ Jesus.
Verse 15- Let those of us who are mature keep in our thinking this way. Those who differ in thinking will be made clear by God.
Verse 16- Let us live to what we have attained.
The overall argument is that the things that we use to have were nothing compared to the things that we will have in Christ. We attain this through Faith and not according to the Law. We must stay according to this to have future knowledge of the power that raised Jesus from the dead. We must forget about the past and stay with Christ through faith to obtain righteousness. Those who have different thinking will get clearance from God. We must live this way for now on.
Difference in wording through the translations, but not enough to effect the message. With three different translations you get the overall message of the passage. NIV and ESV are easier to understand, but the NASB is probably more accurate. Overall, three translations help get the overall message of the passage.
 
Rewritten:
Verse 7- The things that I’ve owned were lost for the sake of Christ.
Verse 8- All things are trash and should be loss compared to knowing Jesus Christ, I have suffered the loss of all my things, but are rubbish compared to the gain of Christ.
Verse 9- I am found in him, but do not have righteousness from the law. Only in Faith through Jesus Christ. The basis for righteousness is Faith in God.
Verse 10- The I may know his power from the resurrection and his suffering and becoming like him from his death.
Verse 11- to attain from the resurrection from the dead.
Verse 12- Not that I have already attained this or am perfect, but that I main remain with him sense he made me one of his.
Verse 13- Brothers, I have not made it on my own, but that I forget about the past and remain on the future.
Verse 14- I keep on the goal and prize and call of God in Jesus Christ.
Verse 15- Let us as we have matured keep this attitude; if any of you have a different attitude, then God will help clear it up.
Verse 16- Let keep the same standard we have attained and live by it.
 
Part 2: Inside the Passage
Key pieces of the passage
The things of which we lose to be with Christ is nothing compared to the knowledge of knowing Christ. Paul was high priest and rich and his righteousness came from the Law. He came to Christ on the way to Damascus and didn’t get the riches of this world. He got beaten and eventually killed for his conversion. He lost everything, but confesses in this passage that it is trash compared to being in union of Christ. He then talks about how righteousness is not obtained from the Law, but through faith. Faith is God in Christ Jesus from the evidence of the resurrection of the Dead Christ. Faith comes from knowing that Christ was raised from the Dead from the Power of God. Through Faith we will come to know this power in Jesus Christ. Attaining to the resurrection of the Dead is based on the power of God. 1st Corinthians 15 talks about how the resurrection is important to the Christian Faith. If the resurrection didn’t occur, then our faith would be useless. When we become truly Christian through the maturing of our old ways then we must look forward to the future as Christians. We must leave the past behind because it doesn’t apply to us anymore. We ourselves could not save ourselves or manage our spiritual lives. We must keep to the future of our Christian Life. God has his prize and goal in mind for us and must go forward with that in mind. We have been matured by God though our Faith in Jesus Christ. If we have doubts or different thinking, then God will help clear it up. We must stay in his word to get his wisdom as Christians. As Christians we must retain this new Christ like attitude as we progress in the future as Christ followers.
 
Faith- Trust based on Evidence for the Biblical definition. God raised Christ from the dead, so that’s why we should put our trust in him.
Law- The way that the Pharisees tried to live by, but in al reality our still not good by works. Righteousness comes through faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Resurrection- Christ being raised from the dead from his suffering on the Cross for the Atonement.
God- Creator of the Heaven and the Earth
Paul- Saul who persecuted the Christians as a Pharisee, but converted when he saw the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus.
 
Resources- NASB Bible, ESV translation, NIV Bible, and The international critical commentary of Philippians and Philemon.
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YouTube Channel Update and Social Media
Hello everyone,
I know I have not posted a video recently. It’s mainly because I’ve been working on my social media and main website. I will however be posting some more videos because I’m on my fall break from College. Oh yeah, I’m a college student now and double majoring in Biblical Studies and Philosophy. That’s also a main factor in why I haven’t posted any new videos for the past couple weeks. It’s been difficult in trying to be a good student and maintain my apologetics ministry. I’m becoming better with my time management skills, so we shall see some changes here.
 
Follow me on Twitter to see my retweets and get good apologetics articles that I retweet. Also you will receive new articles and videos that I post as well.
 
​Follow me on Instagram because you will receive memes, updates, and quotes from great apologists.
 
I also have a Facebook, but I do not have a page set up yet. I will add you as a friend so you can receive updates on my website and YouTube channel as well. Send me a friend request and I’ll accept.
 
I have updated my website to ChristianTruthThroughApologetics.com. I’ve been getting much support from fellow Christians and apologists. I could use your support to help spread the news of my apologetics website because people seem to really enjoy my content. If you want to see more about who I am, then you can check out my author page.
 
If you enjoy my articles, then most likely you will like my YouTube Videos. I could use help getting the news out about my channel and website. If you could spread the news and even make a video, then I would highly appreciate it. I will be continuing my apologetics videos, logical fallacy videos, and book reviews. When I get to fifty subscribers I will make a 50 subscriber special.
 
If you have any personal questions relating to apologetics, then send me an email @JMDapologetics101@gmail.com. I promise I’ll respond and answer your questions!
 
With all these things in mind I hope your support me. I hope to reach my generation through apologetics, so 75% will come back to Christ. It’s ultimately up to you to make the decision. I promise your support will not be in vain.
 
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Sharing your faith with non-believers isn’t always easy, even for experienced Christians. One of the things I have heard from fellow believers again and again is: “I just don’t know how to get the conversation started.”
 
In a study conducted by LifeWay Research, it was found that 80 percent of those who attend church one or more times a month believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith, but 61 percent have not told another person about how to become a Christian in the previous six months. Most just do not know how to get a conversation started.
 
I began thinking, “Is there a way to help Christians simply get a conversation started? What can I do to diminish or even eliminate that initial barrier to conversation and make it easier for believers to share their faith with others?”
 
One day I happened upon a website selling Christian t-shirts and heard about “t-shirt evangelism.” I was fascinated to learn that the average t-shirt message is read over 3,000 times in the life of the shirt. What a practical yet powerful way to share a message with others!

The problem, I found, was that most of the shirts conveyed messages that, although clever, witty or artistic, would not mean much to someone who is an atheist or has doubts about Christianity. The messages on these t-shirts may get read but they would not spark a conversation.

I thought, “Why not create t-shirts that have thought-provoking messages of truth that will get non-believers to ask questions, or at least get them to think?" So we created a whole new way to think about t-shirt evangelism. We created t-shirts with hard-hitting, thought-provoking messages.

We call it:

“Truth Provoking”

TRUTH PROVOKERS SHIRTS ARE NOT YOUR AVERAGE CHRISTIAN TEES. IT'S T-SHIRT EVANGELISM ON THE NEXT LEVEL!

Each Truth Provokers T-Shirt displays a message that will pique the curiosity of non-believers and prompt them to ask questions. They will open the door for intelligent, evidence-based conversation. Every Truth Provokers t-shirt comes with a detailed explanation on the meaning of the shirt’s message PLUS instructions on how to use it as a witnessing tool.
 
Our goal is to empower one million people to become Truth Provokers & wear the Truth Provokers T-Shirts as a witness to the lost of this world. If one million people wore a t-shirt and sparked even a single conversation about the Gospel, that’s one million unsaved people who will have heard the message of salvation.
 
So please, JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO 1 MILLION TRUTH PROVOKERS SHIRTS.
BECOME A TRUTH PROVOKER TODAY!
 
Join The Movement at:
https://truthprovokers.com/
 
My Story:
 
I became a Christian at the age of 17. Soon afterward I started to doubt that what I had experienced was real. I even doubted the very existence of God. So I bought several books, including The Case for Christ, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, More Than A Carpenter, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science and several others. I dove into these books and studied them inside and out. I became a student of Biblical and Christian Apologetics and it has been one of my passions ever since.


It was during these years I became very active in my church, and it didn't take me long to realize that the average Christian really has no idea why they believe the Bible. They had no concept that we as Christians should know these things. As 1 Peter 3:15 states:

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."
 
My hope and my prayer is that, through something as simple as a t-shirt, fellow believers will be inspired to not only share their faith boldly with others, but that they will also spend time deepening their own understanding of the Gospel. The more you dive into the word of God, the more of a burning desire you will have to see others come to faith in Christ, and the easier it will become to start faith conversations yourselves.
 
Join The Movement at:
https://truthprovokers.com/

It’s surprising to find that Jesus came for the Jews and yet there are over 15 million Jews who don’t believe he was the messiah. In the article “The Jewish Background of Jesus” the author talks about how he didn’t know any Jewish people in his early years. First, we have to distinguish the two types of Jewish people you could meet. You could be Jewish by heritage, but not be religious. Then, you be a member of the Judaism and be a very religious Jew. Mel Brooks considers himself a secular Jew because he doesn’t necessarily engage in Judaism. When the author talks about how he meant some Jewish people in his twenties, it changed his perspective on Jesus and the New Testament. The author started to have concerns with Jesus being Jewish and his impact on the Jews. I find no contradiction between the Jewish background of Jesus and the impact he had on the Jews.

Jesus called himself the son of Man, the son of David, and the Messiah. Clearly, Jesus himself thought himself to be very Jewish. If one digs deeper into the Gospels you tend to find Jewish style writing in the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. The account of Mark records the life and ministry of Jesus from a Jewish perspective. Matthew, Mark, and John were all Jews writing about how they witnessed the greatest Jew to ever live. The messiah himself came for the Jews first, then the Gentiles. Luke writes his gospel from a historical perspective and is considered one of the best historians of his time. Jesus recited old Jewish scriptures to indicate he is the messiah for the Jews. John the Baptist was considered a holy man by many Jews and he asked if Jesus was the Messiah. Clearly, Jesus answered his question with a very emplicit yes. Jesus was raised Jewish in Nazareth by his parents Mary and Joseph. Jesus fulfilled many of the Old Testament Prophecies like being betrayed for 30 pieces of silver and having no broken bones. Jesus’ crucifixion scene reflects the prophecies of Psalm 22 when he says “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”. Also the torture scene in Psalm 22 matches perfectly with death by crucifixion resembling Christ’s death even more. Although we have no records of Jesus’ childhood after his birth, we do have the story of where he’s in a Jewish temple. He’s in a Jewish temple and his parents are looking for him and find him asking questions to his elders. This demonstrates his childhood with a Jewish background and took it very seriously. Jesus is baptized at age thirty and starts his ministry in Galilee. In the final week of his ministry, his resurrection proves that he was much more than a great Jewish teacher. It shows that he was God himself since he was raised from the dead. If he was not God, then he committed blasphemy for claiming to be able forgive sin and claiming that he was equal to God. Jesus has a Jewish background, but is more than just a great Jewish teacher. Jesus is God himself and came for the entire world.

Why our there 15 million Jews who don’t believe in Jesus as the messiah? I believe we have to rewind back to when Jesus was being tried for blasphemy. He challenged the Jewish leaders at the time who just lived by the law and wanted to maintain their power as the high priests. The high priests convinced many of the Jews to go against Christ because by showing he had committed blasphemy. Ultimately they didn’t want to lose their powers as the high priests. They had Jesus crucified to suppress the truth himself. Obviously, that plan didn’t work because Jesus rose from the dead. Why don’t Jews nowadays believe in Christ? Well it has to do with the fact that Christ didn’t deliver the Jews from the Roman Empire. God’s intension was to deliver the Jews from sin and death. Also to deliver the Gentiles form sin and death as well. The Roman Empire was part of God’s plan since they help spread the Gospel through their road system. The Roman empire eventually converted to Christianity and ultimately help the spread of Christianity worldwide. If Christ did not have an impact on the world, then why are 2.4 billion Christians worldwide? Christ turned 1st century Jews into Christians and they didn’t get power or wealth. They got beaten, tortured and killed for their conversion to Christianity. If Christ didn’t have an impact of Jewish culture, then there would either no Jews or Christians today. Many Jews consider themselves messianic Jews and do believe Christ was the messiah. Christ did impact the Jewish world and we should expect 2.4 billion Christians worldwide if he truly was who he said he was. Christ was the greatest Jew to live because he delivered the Jews and the world from sin and death.

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“I. Argumentum ad Ignorantiam: (appea lto ignorance) the
fallacy that a proposition is true simply on the basis
that it has not been proved false or that itis false
simply because it has not been proved true.
This error in reasoning is often expressed with
​ influential rhetoric.”
 
“The truth of a claim is established only on the basis of
lack of evidence against it. A simple obvious example
of such fallacy is to argue that unicorns exist because
there is no evidence against such a claim. At first sight
it seems that many theories that we describe as
scientific involve such a fallacy. E.g. the first law of
thermodynamics holds because so far there has not
been any negative instance that would serve as
evidence against it. But notice, as in cases like this,
there is evidence for the law, namely positive
instances. Notice also that this fallacy does not apply
to situations where there are only two rival claims and
one has already been falsified, then we may justly
establish the truth of the other even if we cannot find
evidence for or against it.”
 
If you make a claim to be true based on the lack of
evidence, then it is an appeal to ignorance. If I
claim God exists for absolute certainty with no
evidence, then it’s an appeal to ignorance. If I say
that God doesn’t exist because it hasn’t been
proven, then that would be an appeal to
ignorance because you’ve given no evidence to
support your claim. Now if you say that you
believe in God or don’t believe than that’s a
faith based believe which is okay for individuals
belief. If you’re engaging in a conversation
with a skeptic, you should probably have
evidence to justify your beliefs to have a
good conversation with a skeptic.
 
Have you’ve ever heard there’s no evidence for
God, so therefore he does not exist. If this is not
an appeal to ignorance, then I don’t what is. An Atheism
must establish this claim with evidence just like a
theist has to when it comes to establishing the
truth about the claim of God. Don’t let the atheist pull
the special pleading fallacy along with their
appeal to ignorance fallacy by saying it’s a
lack of believe. I will touch on the lack of belief in a future article
 
This appeal to ignorance fallacy is a great
example to find faulty in theist and atheist
logic. It’s great to have this in your arsenal
of logical fallacies to deal with skeptical
arguments. Theist are usually accused of an
appeal to ignorance while many atheists use
this fallacy when they say their atheism is
justified by absence of evidence.
 Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
 
We have to deal with what’s more
plausible or implausible to avoid the
infamous appeal to ignorance fallacy. We
give evidences to ensure a position is more
 true than false. If you don’t give
evidence and make a truth claim, then you
appeal to ignorance. This fallacy is pretty
simply to understand and must be avoided
in a debate with a skeptic. Now you have
the ad hominem and ad ignorantiam to help
engage in debates.
 
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