Ohio Mid-Western College | a higher eduaction with a higher calling

Christian Worldview

All incoming freshman are required to take a course taught by the Chair of the Christian Ministries Department T.J. Francis. Students are required to take the following course taught by Professor Francis: Discipleship (PTh 102) and Introduction to Apologetics (Th 411). Students will be challenged to answer seven key questions found in James Sire's book, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog.

1. What is prime reality?
2. What is the nature of external reality?
3. What is a human being?
4. What happens to a person at death?
5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?
6. How do we know what is right and wrong?
7. What is the meaning of human history?

During the course the students will be engaged in the following:

1. Defining and discovering the issues relating to the following terms: Worldview, Apologetics, Theism, Atheism, Pantheism, Polytheism, Deism, Naturalism, Nihilism, Existentialism, and Postmodernism.
2. Gaining an understanding of various worldviews and how they differ from Christian Theism.
3. Discovering ways to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with persons who hold to conflicting worldviews.
4. Investigating the major arguments for the existence of God, such as: the cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments.
5. Analyzing the historicity and reliability of the Bible with special attention given to the New Testament writings, the virgin birth, the life of Jesus Christ, and evidence for the resurrection.
6. Gaining an understanding of the discipline and use of apologetics.
7. Discovering how to use apologetics in personal evangelism.
8. Developing a biblically based defense of the Christian faith.