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Core Apologetics: defend the truth of Christianity

Best done after Islam 101

Defend Christianity's central claims with primary sources and a steady tone. Eight core lessons covering the deity of Jesus, the Trinity, the cross, the resurrection, prophetic fulfillment, biblical reliability, the problem of evil, and exclusivity. Deeper material — minimal-facts resurrection, manuscript transmission, the moral argument, comparative monotheism — lives in Advanced Apologetics.

Lessons are ordered for the best build-up, but you can open any of them. We'll mark the recommended next lesson so you always know where to pick back up.

  1. 1

    Why Jesus must be God

    15 min

    Walk the deity claims in their first-century Jewish categories — John 8:58, John 10:30-33, Mark 14:61-64, John 20:28, Matthew 28:18-20.

    2 readingsIncludes practice
  2. 2

    The Trinity defended

    15 min

    Distinguish 'person' from 'being,' refute tritheism, and connect the Trinity to the gospel of love.

    4 readingsIncludes practice
  3. 3

    Why the atonement is just, not cruel

    15 min

    Defend substitutionary atonement against 'divine child abuse' — God paying the just penalty himself in the Son.

    3 readingsIncludes practice
  4. 4

    The resurrection: best explanation

    16 min

    Walk the earliest creed (1 Cor 15:3-8), named witnesses, the empty tomb, and the transformation of skeptics — show why the resurrection is the best explanation of the historical evidence.

    2 readingsIncludes practice
  5. 5

    The cross foretold in the prophets

    16 min

    Walk Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Zechariah 12:10, and Daniel 9 as a Christian foundation — centuries before Jesus, in their own context.

    1 reading
  6. 6

    The Bible we have is reliable

    15 min

    Make the positive Christian case for biblical reliability — manuscript transmission, canon, internal coherence — not only as a response to taḥrīf.

    3 readingsIncludes practice
  7. 7

    The problem of evil

    16 min

    Answer the strongest moral, logical, and evidential versions of the problem of evil from a Christian theistic frame.

    3 readings
  8. 8

    Hell, exclusivity, and the love of God

    16 min

    Engage the standard moral objections to hell and Christian exclusivism without softening the gospel or the love of God.

    3 readings
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