Week 4 Exercises — The Checkpoint Review

This week there is no project — because this week you are the one being examined. These six reps are your training camp for the Certification Checkpoint Exam over Weeks 1–4. The first four are fast, closed-book recall drills (one per week); the fifth is a full self-test; the last is a timed, live-fire rep. Budget about 40 minutes. Do the review reps first, then sit the exam.

Ground rules

• Closed book first, then check. Every recall rep is worthless if you peek. Write your answer cold from memory, then open the chapter and mark what you missed. The gap is the whole point.
• Keep one document — checkpoint-review. All six reps land in a single doc or notes file. It is your evidence that you reviewed, and your leader (or future self) can grade it.
• Be honest about misses. An apologist welcomes examination. A padded “I basically knew that” is the one answer this week won’t accept.

Rep 1 — Week 1 on one card (the called apologist)

From memory, write three things: (a) the one-sentence definition of apologetics — a reasoned defense, apologia, and what it is not (winning arguments, owning people online); (b) the three character prerequisites from 1 Peter 3:15–16 (gentleness, respect, a clear conscience); and (c) the three audiences — the honest questioner, the wounded, the hostile — each matched to the posture it needs. Produce: a half-page card. Then check it against Week 1 and fix what drifted.

Rep 2 — Week 2 turned on itself (truth still matters)

In one clean sentence each, turn these statements against themselves: “There is no absolute truth,” “That’s just your truth,” and “You shouldn’t judge.” Then write, verbatim, the two questions that carry a conversation further than any lecture. Produce: a short list. Check it against Week 2.

Rep 3 — Week 3 in plain English (can we trust the Bible?)

In five sentences, make the manuscript case to an imagined skeptic: why the “telephone game” is the wrong picture (many independent copy-chains, comparable and correctable); the embarrassment of riches (~5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts — state it as approximate); and the honest truth about variants (hundreds of thousands exist, the overwhelming majority trivial spelling and word-order, and no core doctrine rests on a disputed reading). Say the honest line out loud: more copies does not automatically mean true — it means we can know what the original said. Produce: a five-sentence brief. Check it against Week 3.

Rep 4 — Week 4 grid from memory (the resurrection)

List the five minimal facts from memory — crucifixion; the disciples convinced they saw him risen; Paul the persecutor converted; James the skeptic converted; the empty tomb (flag it as the most contested). Then, for each of the five theories — swoon, stolen body, hallucination, wrong tomb, legend — name one granted fact it cannot explain. Produce: a two-column list. Then open the “Examine the Theories” widget below the chapter, score every row honestly, and compare the grid against your list. Where do they disagree?

Rep 5 — The full self-test (this stands in for the exam if you study solo)

Closed book, about 15 minutes. Answer in your own words: (a) why the minimal-facts approach deliberately sets aside the Bible’s inspiration; (b) roughly how early critical scholars date the creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3–7, and why that timing closes the door on legend; (c) why women as the first witnesses count as evidence for the empty tomb — and name the criterion; (d) one self-refuting statement and how it fails; (e) the two questions from Week 2; (f) the three character prerequisites from Week 1. Then, and only then, check every answer and mark your misses. Produce: your answers plus an honest “missed” list. If your cohort runs on Canvas, sit the Checkpoint there after this rep; if you’re in a group, your leader administers it; if you’re solo, this self-test is your checkpoint — grade yourself honestly, the way you’d want a skeptic to grade the evidence. (For how the checkpoint fits your certification path, see Appendix A; Appendix B is a fine last-pass review.)

Rep 6 — Live-fire: the timed rep

Set a timer for eight minutes and put your notes away. A real person says: “The resurrection is just a legend that grew in the retelling, like every other myth.” Write your trained answer as if you were speaking it — warm and unhurried, arguing from facts even skeptics grant (Week 4), asking a question instead of lecturing (Week 2), gentle and respectful (Week 1). Aim for about 150 words. When the timer stops, stop. Produce: one timed paragraph. Then read it cold: did you name the early creed and its dating? Did you stay kind? Did you end with a question rather than a mic-drop?

Check yourself — a good rep looks like:

• Rep 1: apologia defined without notes; all three prerequisites present; each of the three audiences matched to its posture.
• Rep 2: each statement aimed cleanly at itself in one sentence; both questions written word-for-word.
• Rep 3: exactly five sentences, honest about variants, and you did not overclaim (“more copies = automatically true”).
• Rep 4: all five facts, with the empty tomb flagged as most contested; every theory paired with a fact it cannot cover; your list and the widget grid tell the same story.
• Rep 5: you answered closed-book first, then checked; your “missed” list is honest, not padded.
• Rep 6: written inside eight minutes, near 150 words, names the early creed, ends with a question, and reads like something you’d be unembarrassed to say out loud across the Easter table.

If those six ring true, you’re ready. Go sit the checkpoint the way Paul stood before Agrippa — “this has not been done in a corner” (Acts 26:26, ESV) — prepared, honest, and unafraid of the evidence.

Up next: Week 5 — the world’s most confident alternative account of Jesus, and how to build a bridge to your Muslim neighbor with history, Scripture, gentleness, and respect.