The Eastern Mindset and Evidential Apologetics

Hi Pat, Thanks again for teaching here in the Philippines. I have a question for you. When you were here in the Philippines you mentioned that evidential type apologetics is not suited for Asian/Eastern mind. Am I correct? If so, how do you characterize an Asian mindset in contrast to western mindset? What type of apologetics will suit Asian mindset? Thanks for the help. Gerry

Dear Gerry, Evidential apologists include scholars such as Gary Habbermas and Josh McDowell. These are fine scholars and the evidentialist approach is a fine approach. They usually begin with the resurrection of Jesus and once they prove Jesus is the divine Son of God, they then proceed to build their case for Christianity from there. Since many in the East are pantheist, they often conclude that Jesus is another holy man and will add them to their pantheon of gods or holy men who have attained enlightenment. I believe classical apologetics is most effective. We must first show we live in a theistic universe. Once you show we live in a theistic universe, then the worldview of Pantheism is false. From there we show that God uses miracles to confirm His message and His messengers. Then we can show Jesus is the unique Son of God through His miraculous life death and resurrection. I believe the best place to start is at worldviews before we go on to Christian apologetics. Pat Zukeran

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