In order to answer the question of “Why apologetics?” it will be advantageous to answer a more important underlying, namely, “what is apologetics?” Apologetics derives from the Greek word, apologia, which means defense. Apologetics seeks to “provide a rational justification for the truth claims of the Christian faith” [1]. A plethora of Christians misconstrue
apologetics with apologizing for ones faith, which is not what apologetics is.
Why apologetics?
It is shocking how Christians dramatically depreciate the importance of apologetics. “Apologetics is pointless” they’ll tell you. Or “No one gets saved through arguments”. This attitude towards apologetics, however is drastically narrow-sighted to the reach apologetics has, not to mention a limitation on God’s ability to use arguments. There are a advantages that apologetics has, let me list four.
1) Apologetics is Biblical.
Many Christians tell apologists that apologetics isn’t Biblical, but is this assertion true?
The Biblical foundation upon which we establish apologetics can be found is in 1st Peter 3:15 in which we are told to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have, bud do this in gentleness and respect.
Moreover, the early apostles would often argue for the truth of their claims by appealing to Jesus’ miracles, fulfilled prophecies, and Jesus’ resurrection [Acts 22-32] when speaking with Jews. When the apostles spoke to non-Jews, they would appeal to His handiwork in nature [Acts 14:17]. And In Romans 1:20, Paul says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. That is to say, when we look at the creation, we should know that God exists.
Let’s look as some other examples of apologetics found in the Scriptures.
In the book of Acts chapter 19 and verse 8, we find Paul persuasively arguing for the Kingdom of God. In Jude 3:1, Paul says, I found it necessary to write to appealing to you to contend for the faith. Or again, in 17:2-3 and
Acts 17:22-31.
2) Cultural Significance
In America, our culture is deeply post-Christian due to the Enlightenment in which it propagated “free thought” which led to pursuit of knowledge by means of human reason alone. This type of thought inevitably leads to non-Christian conclusions. And if our slipping into secularism remains unchecked in America, Christianity will not be seen as an intellectually viable option. We can already see the remnants of this in Europe and have the potential to share their fate. Although the majority Europeans’ retain an affiliation with Christianity, only about 10 percent are practicing believers, and less than half of those are evangelical in theology. Why does this matter? It matters because the soil in which we plant the seeds of the gospel will be harder to plant. Thus, our preaching the gospel will become a more difficult task for the believer to preach, say, in the university in which people reject it due to intellectual inquiries.
3) Prevents Believers from Falling Away
The generations of believers today in the church today seem to have questions pertaining to the faith which typically go unanswered by pastors, fellow church goers, and elders. If this trend continues, the consequence of this will lead some believers into agnosticism or even atheism. To illustrate, Dr. William Lane Craig, a well known apologist attests that as he speaks in churches, he frequently has parents say things like, “If only you’d been here two or three years ago! Our son [or daughter] had questions about the faith which no one in church could answer, and now he’s lost his faith and is far from the Lord.” This is the sad reality that the church is facing today, but it gets worse. The church isn’t the only place that believers are losing their faith in God. In college, believers face an even more harsh war over their mind. Professors and classmates attack the belief in God, the reliability of the Bible, and Jesus’ resurrection, and for the most part, this is the first time that the believer has had his beliefs challenged. And the Christian who is not adequately trained in apologetics, they begin to believe these objections and most end up as just another statistic. It is said that 50-75% of students who grew up in church that go to college lose their faith.
Let's take a look at a testimony of a man that encountered much of what I have said to give you what’s it like for someone that encounters this. If you visit Reasonablefaith.org, you can read many more testimonies like this one.
Dear Dr. Craig,
I went off to college 37 years ago, having been raised a Christian, who believed in the main tenets of the faith simply because everyone I knew and trusted believed in them. Once in college, in the mid 70s when atheism and anti religious sentiment was quite fashionable, this led to a process wherein daily intellectual and social assaults on my faith led eventually to a faith crisis that was so devastating that I still remember those dark times and have night mares about it to this day.
I wish to God that you had been around all those years ago. Having gone through a long period of utter despondency over the nihilistic implications of atheism, and although never self destructive, I finally came around, on my own, to subject atheism, and all the standard criticisms of theism and orthodox christian dogma to the same level of scrutiny as my professors did of theism. I find that your ministry of defense of the central tenets of Christianity to be extraordinary and only blind faith in materialism, or atheism, or fear of professorial peer pressure can stand against many of the insights that you have, and the broader counteroffensive that believers have made these past 20 years.
I also found that when I actually took up the Bible and read it for myself, that Jesus first asked his prospective disciples to follow him, not so much to believe in a preexistent body of beliefs about him. I have found that by actually trying to follow Jesus has made all the difference in my life. You have shown to me conclusively that the central tenets of the Christian faith are not an attempt to "believe ten impossible things before breakfast", but overall make the most sense, and even better yet, yield the most hope.
I have been a street cop in the worst neighborhoods of --------, made famous by several different police shows on TV for over 26 years. I have seen up close and personal more death and senseless violence than the vast majority of police officers ever see. These horrors, combined with the worldview of hopelessness and pointlessness that is the byproduct of pop nihilism could have driven me simply mad. Due in part to your ministry, intellect and powers you have brought to bear on what are the questions of the most profound import to our lives, you have shown Christianity to be quite credible, and along with asking Jesus into my life, to show himself to me, then joining a Christian community and with them attempting to practice Christ and Christianity, this has made an incredible impact in my life. Jesus offers us a new life, a better hope and a better way to be in this life, and in part due to your demonstrations, this is not a pie in the sky, wishful thinking hope, but rather is a set of beliefs not merely emotionally and spiritually satisfying, but cognitively persuasive as well. God bless you sir.
4) Apologetics Ministers to Atheists
Apologetics gives the Christian and non-believer common ground upon which the Christian is able to effectively evangelize to the non-believer, namely, logic, reason, and evidence. Without common ground, the theist will find himself talking past the non-believer which can be detrimental to effectively ministering to the non-believer. Consider Paul, when he would debate with the Jews to convince them Jesus was the Messiah, he appealed to the Scriptures, miracles, and Jesus’ resurrection. How effective would it had been if Paul would’ve approached them with, say, an appeal to nature [as described in Romans 1:18-23] to convince the Jews of Jesus? Obviously this wouldn’t work, so Paul, knowing who he was speaking too used the tools that would get the job done. To illustrate, imagine if a maintenance man used a hammer where a drill was necessary to complete the job. Would he be effective at his job if he didn’t know the appropriate tools to use for specific jobs? Likewise, when Christians encounters an unbeliever, he should be the maintenance man who not only has the right tools for the job, but knows what tool to use for that job. I think C.S. Lewis put it best when he said,
To be ignorant and simple now - not to be able to meet enemies on their own ground - would be to throw down our weapons, and betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen.
For all of these reasons, we can confidently conclude that apologetics is necessary.
apologetics with apologizing for ones faith, which is not what apologetics is.
Why apologetics?
It is shocking how Christians dramatically depreciate the importance of apologetics. “Apologetics is pointless” they’ll tell you. Or “No one gets saved through arguments”. This attitude towards apologetics, however is drastically narrow-sighted to the reach apologetics has, not to mention a limitation on God’s ability to use arguments. There are a advantages that apologetics has, let me list four.
1) Apologetics is Biblical.
Many Christians tell apologists that apologetics isn’t Biblical, but is this assertion true?
The Biblical foundation upon which we establish apologetics can be found is in 1st Peter 3:15 in which we are told to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have, bud do this in gentleness and respect.
Moreover, the early apostles would often argue for the truth of their claims by appealing to Jesus’ miracles, fulfilled prophecies, and Jesus’ resurrection [Acts 22-32] when speaking with Jews. When the apostles spoke to non-Jews, they would appeal to His handiwork in nature [Acts 14:17]. And In Romans 1:20, Paul says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. That is to say, when we look at the creation, we should know that God exists.
Let’s look as some other examples of apologetics found in the Scriptures.
In the book of Acts chapter 19 and verse 8, we find Paul persuasively arguing for the Kingdom of God. In Jude 3:1, Paul says, I found it necessary to write to appealing to you to contend for the faith. Or again, in 17:2-3 and
Acts 17:22-31.
2) Cultural Significance
In America, our culture is deeply post-Christian due to the Enlightenment in which it propagated “free thought” which led to pursuit of knowledge by means of human reason alone. This type of thought inevitably leads to non-Christian conclusions. And if our slipping into secularism remains unchecked in America, Christianity will not be seen as an intellectually viable option. We can already see the remnants of this in Europe and have the potential to share their fate. Although the majority Europeans’ retain an affiliation with Christianity, only about 10 percent are practicing believers, and less than half of those are evangelical in theology. Why does this matter? It matters because the soil in which we plant the seeds of the gospel will be harder to plant. Thus, our preaching the gospel will become a more difficult task for the believer to preach, say, in the university in which people reject it due to intellectual inquiries.
3) Prevents Believers from Falling Away
The generations of believers today in the church today seem to have questions pertaining to the faith which typically go unanswered by pastors, fellow church goers, and elders. If this trend continues, the consequence of this will lead some believers into agnosticism or even atheism. To illustrate, Dr. William Lane Craig, a well known apologist attests that as he speaks in churches, he frequently has parents say things like, “If only you’d been here two or three years ago! Our son [or daughter] had questions about the faith which no one in church could answer, and now he’s lost his faith and is far from the Lord.” This is the sad reality that the church is facing today, but it gets worse. The church isn’t the only place that believers are losing their faith in God. In college, believers face an even more harsh war over their mind. Professors and classmates attack the belief in God, the reliability of the Bible, and Jesus’ resurrection, and for the most part, this is the first time that the believer has had his beliefs challenged. And the Christian who is not adequately trained in apologetics, they begin to believe these objections and most end up as just another statistic. It is said that 50-75% of students who grew up in church that go to college lose their faith.
Let's take a look at a testimony of a man that encountered much of what I have said to give you what’s it like for someone that encounters this. If you visit Reasonablefaith.org, you can read many more testimonies like this one.
Dear Dr. Craig,
I went off to college 37 years ago, having been raised a Christian, who believed in the main tenets of the faith simply because everyone I knew and trusted believed in them. Once in college, in the mid 70s when atheism and anti religious sentiment was quite fashionable, this led to a process wherein daily intellectual and social assaults on my faith led eventually to a faith crisis that was so devastating that I still remember those dark times and have night mares about it to this day.
I wish to God that you had been around all those years ago. Having gone through a long period of utter despondency over the nihilistic implications of atheism, and although never self destructive, I finally came around, on my own, to subject atheism, and all the standard criticisms of theism and orthodox christian dogma to the same level of scrutiny as my professors did of theism. I find that your ministry of defense of the central tenets of Christianity to be extraordinary and only blind faith in materialism, or atheism, or fear of professorial peer pressure can stand against many of the insights that you have, and the broader counteroffensive that believers have made these past 20 years.
I also found that when I actually took up the Bible and read it for myself, that Jesus first asked his prospective disciples to follow him, not so much to believe in a preexistent body of beliefs about him. I have found that by actually trying to follow Jesus has made all the difference in my life. You have shown to me conclusively that the central tenets of the Christian faith are not an attempt to "believe ten impossible things before breakfast", but overall make the most sense, and even better yet, yield the most hope.
I have been a street cop in the worst neighborhoods of --------, made famous by several different police shows on TV for over 26 years. I have seen up close and personal more death and senseless violence than the vast majority of police officers ever see. These horrors, combined with the worldview of hopelessness and pointlessness that is the byproduct of pop nihilism could have driven me simply mad. Due in part to your ministry, intellect and powers you have brought to bear on what are the questions of the most profound import to our lives, you have shown Christianity to be quite credible, and along with asking Jesus into my life, to show himself to me, then joining a Christian community and with them attempting to practice Christ and Christianity, this has made an incredible impact in my life. Jesus offers us a new life, a better hope and a better way to be in this life, and in part due to your demonstrations, this is not a pie in the sky, wishful thinking hope, but rather is a set of beliefs not merely emotionally and spiritually satisfying, but cognitively persuasive as well. God bless you sir.
4) Apologetics Ministers to Atheists
Apologetics gives the Christian and non-believer common ground upon which the Christian is able to effectively evangelize to the non-believer, namely, logic, reason, and evidence. Without common ground, the theist will find himself talking past the non-believer which can be detrimental to effectively ministering to the non-believer. Consider Paul, when he would debate with the Jews to convince them Jesus was the Messiah, he appealed to the Scriptures, miracles, and Jesus’ resurrection. How effective would it had been if Paul would’ve approached them with, say, an appeal to nature [as described in Romans 1:18-23] to convince the Jews of Jesus? Obviously this wouldn’t work, so Paul, knowing who he was speaking too used the tools that would get the job done. To illustrate, imagine if a maintenance man used a hammer where a drill was necessary to complete the job. Would he be effective at his job if he didn’t know the appropriate tools to use for specific jobs? Likewise, when Christians encounters an unbeliever, he should be the maintenance man who not only has the right tools for the job, but knows what tool to use for that job. I think C.S. Lewis put it best when he said,
To be ignorant and simple now - not to be able to meet enemies on their own ground - would be to throw down our weapons, and betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen.
For all of these reasons, we can confidently conclude that apologetics is necessary.
