Dr. Sean McDowell Apologetics Seminar 2019

Dr. Sean McDowell joins River City Christian for an exciting and thought provoking two part conference designed to help us communicate and relate with non-christians and also with the latest group of young people known as "Gen-Z."

[@StarFighter555]

Sean McDowell is the best/worst atheist ever! Since he is an apologist he knows the arguments, it’s really helpful to know both sides and speak the truth in love!

[@heavnxbound]

Amen! Personally, as someone who used to be an atheist, I think that Sean’s ‘atheist persona’ is a great challenge for Christians and for discussing these issues and arguments. One of the many reasons why I love apologetics so much, is because it allows me to provide answers to people who have genuine questions. Like the girl whom Sean was talking about, who had been asking sincere questions but never got answers, and eventually deemed Christianity false as a result. That’s just one sad testimony out of a multitude of similar ones. If the Church engaged more in apologetics, and encouraged non-Christians in apologetics as well, I think the world would look very different in a good way.

[@dennisheffy3220]

Sean came across as knowledgeable, logical and honest when playing the atheist. Made perfect sense. I am now an atheist.

[@TheWakeUpChannel]

It's sad to hear how bad most christians are with defending their faith with sophisticated debaters

[@chikkipop]

It's because there is nothing to defend.

[@WhatYourPastorDidntTellYou]

It’s sad to hear how bad most non-Christians commenters are on KZbin posts with only using ad-hominem attacks and no substance.

[@chikkipop]

@@WhatYourPastorDidntTellYou Try me. In fact, atheists routinely demolish the cases believers make. We have an easier task, though, because you have to try to defend the indefensible.

[@jeffofthehillpeople7728]

I assume you watched this whole video. I pray that some of it got past the armor of your world view. May God bless you.

[@DaddyKratosOfTheShire]

​@@jeffofthehillpeople7728Amen......Glory to the Ancient of Days!

[@rafaelgarza6562]

Dr. Sean McDowell is assuredly blessed by God to maximize his abilities within his calling. To God be all the glory! Nevertheless, this display expounds upon the importance of educating oneself to prick another's intellect with logic and reasoning to successfully defend the Christian faith.

[@owenneillProvidentialFire]

Hey, Sean, I just wanted to reach out to you and thank you for doing this program and another program where you debated with an atheist who was formally a Pastor. I have a heart for young people; it's unfortunate that most kids leave home, go off to college, and get their faith squeezed out of them in academia-my ministry coaching football with faith as a cornerstone. I also write praise and worship music and Christian-themed music kids would listen to.

[@satinderkaur4453]

Well done Sean keep seeking

[@collectibles4u]

I'm happy of how this one went as deeper philosophical inquiries, although I'm 30 minutes in and I see one problem the crowd is having. No one has listened or asked what evidence would constitue as positive affirmation, a great apologist once said we have to listen more than we talk and you can't get to the head without first going through the heart. If me and I know in this context time is short I would ask what constitutes as evidence and then what is affirmative then you get down to the heart of the matter. God Bless all of you who precipitated Sean has a big leg up😂

[@Potamotrygorgeous]

What an incredible cool ‘experiment’.

[@lukedmoss]

This is maybe my third or fourth video I've seen recently of Sean playing his role as an atheist. I'm only a half hour in, but this one has to be my favorite. The audience is by far the most respectful out of the four and Sean's answers as an atheist seem more authentic and less rehearsed than other times. Granted, he is running the same responses as always but his atheist character seems more humble and intellectually honest in this one.

[@tooshay4me]

I think the audience was more respectful because they already knew he was a Christian? Do all his audiences know ahead of time?

[@heavnxbound]

@@tooshay4me No, not all :) I don’t remember which video it is but one of the times the students didn’t know is uploaded on the channel. I’ll try to find the title and edit my comment. The video is: “A Christian Role-Plays an Atheist to a Group of Christians (Then Reveals Who He Is!)”

[@jamesbrixey8102]

Oh my. This is truly fascinating

[@ClauGutierrezY]

@Kobe Chaim no one cares

[@bluegtturbo]

He's more convincing as an atheist than as an apologist lol

[@ethan4048]

Why did they rush to arguing about evolution? Arguably the best Christian leaders today like wlc are believe in theistic evolution.

[@verdedeleon82]

That hand sign in the thumbnail tells me all I need to know...

[@ginawood5991]

Can Biola’s Apolagetics course be done online?

[@famlykr9046]

Hey Mr. McDowell, you said we should come and study, but for me this'd be way to expansive. Would you say there are books/videos/etc. from you and other professors with which we could get the most important stuff you would learn at Biola too? It could be also some more books🤔😄 If you had time to recommend some stuff I would be REALLY very very thankful. Thanks for everything.

[@andrewgraham7659]

This was painful. But I have struggled and wrestled with doubt for too long and very recently.

[@andrewgraham7659]

@Dd SI agree with you that some of the claims in Christianity are not to be taken literally, such as Jesus being a literal door. But my doubt is in a past tense. Christianity has to cost you something - and it has cost me dearly. But can yougive an example of a claim that can be taken literally? The claim tha man came from a monkey for example - is also literally wrong. There was a theory, it still has been proven wrong - again and again.

[@andrewgraham7659]

@Dd S No but that is an example of what some atheists this believe. You did not give me an example where the Bible is literally wrong, yet I gave you an example of there the Bible could have been taken literally, but which no Christian seriously thinks off. My questions and doubts are never about subjects that have answers such as the beginning of the world, rather they are about subjects which have either many and no answers. My doubts are purely theological and you will not find the answers in science or nature. You will hopefully, understand that my doubts are subject to the context of the Bible and we know and have found to be for lack of a better word true. These have to be long because you have written off the Bible and the Gospel. You have to be challenged to think beyond the we don't but science explains through a process do not fully understand. That is just as good as saying God did it at least in my book.

[@andrewgraham7659]

@Dd S As are you. Unless you have invented the time machine and gone back in to witness. You haven't supplied any evidence either, and I have given you examples. Unless you have some other evidence that we don't have. By the Origins of Species is still a book too.

[@andrewgraham7659]

@Dd S He's hiding in plain sight and you haven't found Him yet. Give me a reason for why we have disabilities that have no cure or give me evidence that the Bible is a fairy tale - which no Christian thinks. Explain how nothing achieves anything since nothing is your starting point.

[@andrewgraham7659]

I asked you for evidence - that's not evidence that's your interpretation of the evidence. You show your lack of understanding and arrogance and you are atypical atheist. If I was interested in atheism at all it would only to be to get you the likes of you off my back and for no other reason. For now I'll take the hits and hope I don't laugh at you when you are judged.

[@davidboguta3002]

Solid

[@zach2980]

Sean, are you contractually bound to your biblical position with Biola? Did you sign a statement of faith that you would be fired if you negated the Bible’s truth claims?

[@dagwould]

And so? Maybe he signed because he agreed with it.

[@zach2980]

Dagwould yeah fine but would you agree that it creates a barrier to publicly admitting that you change your mind when learning future evidence? Imagine he sat down with a scientist who walked him through why evolution is true and agreeing on all points, only to at the end deny it because of a legal document. I speak from experience here. It’s a hugely frustrating reality with many employed in the ministry.

[@abelj5145]

@@zach2980 It is true, that could be a possibility. But it is also quite misled. I think it is different for someone to have doubts about something but honestly saying that a contract bounds someone to a belief could go both ways. If someone who didn't believe in God or wasn't convinced enough for suddenly believe. Isnt it also possible he/she doesn't want to lose the respect of the people who work with him/her, his/her standing with the people that follow him/her. Or any contracts they have. Basically it works both ways, so why should we trust anyone in this field regardless of their viewpoint.

[@zach2980]

Abel James I think it reflects poorly on the Christianity in general. The idea of needing to believe(on little evidence), to get reward is nonsense imo. I don’t see him/them referring to their contracts in debates, etc. mind you. I don’t think he shuts his brain off to evidence because of a contract, I just think he/they can’t publicly admit errancy of the Bible when they realize it. It’s just a shady thing to force an employee to do for an organization that is interested in the truth of reality.

[@abelj5145]

@@zach2980 Ah i see what you're getting at. Yeah that's a good point. But again doesn't it go both ways? And i do believe though that we have evidence to support our beliefs. I don't think you want to go through it but if you do i'm quite fine but i'm not an expert on these things honestly, i try to be though. Yeah the second point is something i do think needs to be thought of more often, and i think more apologists are coming to a place where they can admit where evidence is lacking, instead of trying to overstate things. I kinda believe ( maybe i might be biased?) that both sides overstate the evidence honestly. But maybe one day they'll be open, respectful and honest discussions about this. I'm sure you've heard a lot about the Catholic Church recently, and i mean as Catholic myself it's quite frustrating and downright disheartening to hear the lack of genuineness in what seems so many "Church Leaders". I mean personally i know some great Church Leaders who are genuine but that doesn't take away the pain of the hypocrisy of others and how they can hurt the vulnerable in such as way. What i'm trying to say is, yeah i get you when you look at a church or Christians who aren't genuine and it's like the whole Christianity thing is a fake, ( i really hope this is what you're meaning sorry i'm not the smartest of people). Actually i used to be someone who wasn't genuine but i don't know how things turned around ( actually i do but obviously you won't believe me), so yeah. Anyways, in regards to Sean, he did release a video outlying the mistakes that most Christian apologists including himself make when defending the Bible. If you wanna check it out, imma just copy and paste the title. Avoiding Big Mistakes in Defending the Bible: Interview with Dr. Peter Gurry Aight have a good one mate. Sorry if i went off track.

[@DesGardius-me7gf]

Asking a Christian apologist if the Bible is supported by evidence is like asking a 12 year old Justin Bieber groupie for an honest, unbiased critique of the latest Justin Bieber album.

[@DaddyKratosOfTheShire]

Where the laws come from

[@tooshay4me]

Truth sets us free, but actions speak louder than words. It’s not the speaking I have a hard time with. It’s the hypocrisy that runs rampant in the body of Christ. This is why I walked away from the church. As a youth pastor, I encouraged young people to question their beliefs and to seek their gifts within our gathering. I was always corrected by the elders to stop and that my responsibility was to just teach. Parents would complain because their children would question their beliefs and they couldn’t answer why they believed so they complained about me. Leaders continue to hide behind the word of God in their immoral lives and self gained power. I want nothing to do with Christians. They are as lambs to the slaughter in their own judgments and condemnations of others.

[@BillHirsch1417]

I believe a lot of what you said is true. But you should judge christianity off of Christ. He himself said many will call him Lord who do not listen to Him, who He does not even know. It would be a shame if Christianity were true and the so called followers of this religion turned away the true Lord they claim to believe. I can relate to your struggle. I would suggest trying to Judge Christ, not the church and see where you find your beliefs. I’d love to talk more about this 👍🏼

[@tooshay4me]

@@BillHirsch1417 I’m not sure I understand what you mean about judging Christ. Please explain.

[@BillHirsch1417]

@@tooshay4me i was getting the impression that you were throwing the idea of Christianity out of the window based on christians. If that’s the case, I was suggesting you judge christ himself and make your decision. Its like if I saw a beautiful Van Gogh painting and tried to free hand copy it. On my first try it would like terrible, and If I walked around calling myself a Van Goghian and you judged him based on my painting you wouldnt have a high regard for him. You should judge Van Gogh based on his own work. But imagine you met “Van Goghians” that dedicated their life and time to coping the sane painting but every day, studied painting techniques and sincerely did their best to paint like Van Gogh - in time you may look at their paintings and say , those aren’t exactly the same , but it is impressively close and I can appreciate their integrity and you may have more respect for those “Van Goghians” But are you still believing in Christianity, just done with the church?

[@tooshay4me]

@@BillHirsch1417 … even Jesus judged the religious. He was disgusted with the religious to the extent that he said, “if your righteousness does not surpass that of the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of God.” I have seen, first hand, the hypocrisy of so called Christians. Always using or hiding behind the word of God to go around judging those around them. Especially well known ministers who definitely do not practice what they preach yet, demand perfection from those that serve them or work for them. I have seen this for over 25 years and finally got fed up with it all. So, yes, I have walked away from the church, from Christians, and choose to serve God in my own life. Jesus will never be judged by me as He was the example. Christians are supposed to be “Christ like” and not use Him to do their bidding. I know there are good Christians as I know some, but they embrace me as I am and allow me to live my life as I choose without judgement. This is how it should be. Christ said that we are to live our lives as examples for Him. I choose to live as an example without preaching to people and telling them how to live their lives or judging them.

[@BillHirsch1417]

@@tooshay4me when i said judge christ i didn’t mean that in a disparaging way, i meant that if you “judged” Christ by his works then you would come back with a perfect verdict. I whole heartedly understand what you are saying, and can relate to you. There are many hypocritical people in the church. But please understand that what you are saying is in judgement of christians as well. I’m not saying that you need to go back to that church. But you need to find a church and stick with it. We are not designed to do a christian walk alone, as proof of a christian is they want to be around Gods people and love them and care for them regardless of how much they bother you. Forget about how they act and love them the way Christ asked us to love them - they will have to account for their own actions and you for yours. It would do wonders for your spirit to worship, serve and love God fearing people. No church is perfect and they all have their flaws but God is coming back for his Church, Jesus calls out to His Church. In order for us to truly live out the life He called us to , which is a life of service, sacrifice, worship and love - we need others . We need them man. Find a church man, it wont be perfect, they will bother you , but it’ll give you an opportunity to Love Chris by serving them regardless of how they make you feel.

[@dansmith9724]

👍

[@TJ-xr7xh]

Gen Z starts at 1997, it’s more official. By the time Gen Z was born , more households had computers because the were more affordable. Prior to that, computers were too expensive , so many households did not have computers. Also, Gen Z we’re the first to have smart phones, and apps like Instagram, snap chat, etc.

[@Misakichifan]

Is that Bobby Conway Johnson?

[@Cluj69]

What is he a doctor of besides his own imagination?

[@DaddyKratosOfTheShire]

Dude he is setting you guys up to argue and i see 1 that pushed back

[@biddiemutter3481]

Never play poker with Sean McDowell 😀

[@DaddyKratosOfTheShire]

Gen z......Tech and confusion

[@jeremiahlyons5488]

Sean's athiest persona should be "Dr. Lewohdockem" which is pretty close to McDowell spelled backwards. 😆

[@andrewgraham7659]

I'm sorry but Nivarna will never be classic rock - it is forever stuck in the grunge genre.

[@brantgentry1463]

Well he is using common sense and basically as evolution of the gaps. Well evolution did it.

[@iamjoeledbetter]

I just finished watching this lecture and at times it was genuinely painful to listen to. There were so, so, so, many inaccurate and/or misleading statements made. It got so bad it was actually interesting. I agree with Sean’s advice though, always ask questions and never accepted conjecture, not from believers and not from those who lack belief.

[@4kidsliz]

Would love to hear what exactly you feel is misleading and inaccurate. It's easy just to proclaim it here. Search for the truth...truly search. You will find it. Pray to the God you don't believe in to reveal Himself....why not? What the heck ..You never know....

[@abelj5145]

Hello hope you are well. May I know what you thought was inaccurate. Thanks. You're amazing

[@parkerj1776]

A year goes by, and no explanation for your objections... speaks volumes.

[@iamjoeledbetter]

@@parkerj1776 Dang it you got me... Fair is fair, I’ll accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior now.

[@parkerj1776]

@@iamjoeledbetter that’s not the point lol... it’s just easy to say someone’s wrong: as a fan of his, if his logic is flawed, please help me see your reasoning. Grow a pair; have some integrity.

[@eronfas101]

Ironically, the only time Sean made a lick of sense was when he was in the character of an Atheist. After that...it was like watching someone commit intellectual seppuku.

[@lukedmoss]

It's incredible to me, he's so good at getting into character. Very interesting and not like any other apologist I've seen. I'd love have a conversation with him about his views on epistemology.

[@roma544216]

Definitely atheistic arguments didn't make any sense but how can you persuade a person who is not interested in the Truth?

[@zotrules]

Sean, you didn't address any of your claims as atheist. and if you did, don't you think that you misrepresented atheism or deliberately were dishonest with those glasses, as an atheist would have been? and if you were dishonest, why did you dismiss the questions from the public by calling "next question"? My fist question to you as an atheist and belligerent supporter(better, supportee) of "science" would have been what is your contribution to science. If it were on par with that of richard dawkins, that is zilch, then we would have been on even ground... all your claims would be refutable by a mobile phone running a gprs browser or later.

[@robertlight5227]

Did Jesus even exist?

[@BillHirsch1417]

I would suggest listening to lee strobles - “case for christ” - he was an atheist investigative journalist who went out to disprove Christianity via Jesus existence and claimed resurrection and came out a christian at the end of it. If not him , i suggest looking into historical sources outside of the bible in the 30AD-100AD writing about a man named jesus gaining many followers- some called him a cult leader or insurrectionist, But by doing so they acknowledge he did in fact live preach was crucified and his followers claimed he rose again. His followers were willing to be murdered for these claims as well - where if anyone knew it was a lie, it would be his followers. They fact they were so willing to die for their belief is a great acknowledgment that there is validity to the claims of Jesus/the bible. Hope you look into it

[@robertlight5227]

@@BillHirsch1417 I read Stroble's book. He cites no physical evidence for his physical claim of a JC. Do you have any?

[@BillHirsch1417]

@@robertlight5227 would you trust extra-biblical historians like Josephus historical written account of Jesus as proof ? Or Roman historian Tacitus who wrote about Jesus and His followers in negative ways? Though disdaining Jesus He does acknowledge His existence

[@robertlight5227]

@@BillHirsch1417 No Bill for neither source was contemporary with JC. Their writing was hearsay. Also I expect, as we all should, logical parity. If u make a physical claim u will need physical evidence.

[@BillHirsch1417]

@@robertlight5227 they called him by name , named who crucified him and that he had followers. They called Him a cultist, they called him names - but they didnt say he didnt exist. He lived as a peasant man for his entire life 2000 years ago - what piece of physical evidence would a man who had no home, no statues erected, was crucified and killed and buried in another mans tomb leave behind? The claim is he was resurrected so he wouldn’t leave a body behind. Jerusalem was utterly destructed 40 years after his claimed death, what piece of evidence would be left behind? Other than thousands of first century christians absolutely taking over Romes empire in terms of religion nearly immediately after His claimed death in 33 AD

[@StephaniePeeleIAm]

lying to children is low dude

[@heavnxbound]

How is he lying?

[@StephaniePeeleIAm]

@@heavnxbound I'd have to re-listen to what he was saying. I don't remember what he was talking about.

[@joelhinrichs979]

"Dr. Johnson" spoke actual truth regarding evolution etc. "Intelligent Design" pictures GOD constantly pumping new DNA recipes into a clearly evolving world, and its primary basis sounds like, "It baffles me, but not GOD." The actual Intelligent Design has to do with the Universe, so perfectly tuned that not only does evolution work (note below) but SO perfectly abled that abiogenesis happens. Given that GOD's handiwork is perfect, state why abiogenesis would be "a bridge too far." Evolution isn't serial addition of complex features - children may understand it this way, but for folks with doctorates that is *shameful.* Evolution is a team event, occurring with agonizing sloth over eons of time. Earth's record of life goes back more than three thousand five hundred "units" where each one is a million years. So evolution marks time in units that large? There are thousands of them. Team event: slow accretion of rare tiny improvements does, given time, construct highly complex features with many "miraculously intertwined and sequenced components." Evolution builds teams, and keeps each part in sync with all the other parts as it oozes ever upward. GOD's intelligent design is in a context of billions of years, trillions of galaxies, and a physics that, like Salome's dance of the seven veils, retreats shyly away, always with one (or more) veils left to go. But each veil that drops discloses even more of GOD's handiwork. David, in Psalm 19, opens with what can only be GOD's hint that astronomy would reveal, in our day, the utter vastness of Design, space, time, etc. We know that the Universe had a start, a.k.a. big bang, which dovetails with "Let there be light." - That was a baker's dozen of billions of years ago. David proceeds too place the sun in a tent where it can rest over night; show me the tent and I'll read Genesis assuming that, in addition to being self-revelation, law-giving, Deed of Title, life coaching, promises made, and in sum THEOLOGY are of lesser importance than the surface details that dramatized GOD's message. Genesis meets the purpose GOD gave it today as all of the above, just without the surface details. Now that we can hear the speech of the skies, we can eat meat instead of drinking milk.