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Introduction
What if someone came rapping at your door tomorrow morning and said, "I would like to talk with you about this wonderful call we have? We’re meeting with some of you neighbors and we’re studying the Bible together. We’d like you to attend the class with us." The more the two of you talk, the more you realize this person is not from your church and doesn’t represent your faith. Later on, the same individual make these comments, "Oh, I understand where you’re coming from. You must really live under the delusion that Jesus is God. Do you realize…?" And then he and his partner quote three or four verses that seem to contradict the deity of Christ.
How would you do in that situation? Could you stand alone and convince them otherwise?
Or perhaps you’ve picked up a very convincing piece of literature that makes an attack against the Scriptures and says, in effect, "Really, it’s the work of man. Those men who wrote the Scriptures were zealous and sincere, but not actually ‘inspired.’ That which has been passed on to us really isn’t that credible." As you read those words, could you convince yourself the information was unreliable? To do so requires knowing the scoop. Do you?
How about this real-life example from a friend of mine. This dialogue occurred over several weeks (via e-mail) when my friend politely chanledged a person claiming to be a Christian, but supporting the idea that homosexuality is not a sin. (The entire e-mail dialogue is available on the Internet at: http://www.crosstowncreations.com/Akers/letters.html). After a short while the discourse turned to the Bible and she stated the following:
"I read the Bible as a book of wisdom, passed down from our ancestors. It is the greatest book ever written. However, I do NOT believe it is innerrant, or the exact word of God. I believe it is man's narrative of their understanding of God. Many people believe this. "
How would you answer a statement like this?
What is Apologetics?
If you go to the Scriptural texts, Christians were called upon to refute error. The apologists in the early church were required to answer false charges against Christians. Read 1 Peter 3:13-16. (Always be prepared to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is within you, yet do it with gentleness.) If you look at the Greek, it is an imperative, and it is not just applied to pastors and theologians. It is for everybody. It is a command.
Peter is encouraging hurting people. Peter writes to encourage them, lest they become intimidated and fearful. That’s why, in the midst of this word of encouragement, he drops a comment about their being able to "make a defense" of their faith. Look at verse 15 again.
The words "make a defense" come from the Greek term apologia. The term apologetics comes from the legal system of ancient Greece. The accused was provided with the right to make a reply (apologia) to the charge against him. We get our word "apologetic" or "apology" from it. Not in the sense of apologizing or saying you’re sorry for something. The idea of "apology" carries with it the though of a formal justification, a convincing defense, to provide an answer in return. The definition from a Greek Lexicon is: 1) verbal defense, speech in defense, or 2) a reasoned statement or argument. For Christians, this might mean answering the question, "Why do you believe that Jesus is God?" or a question more often heard today, "Why do you think Christians have the truth?"
Apologetics, in a much wider sense then, is the biblical response of the believer to the attacks upon his doctrine and his faith.
Why learn Apologetics?
What do you belive is true? Why do you believe it is true? We should believe what we believe solely because those beliefs are true. Thus, we should attempt to acquire enough sound information on which to base our beliefs in order to make good decisions and practice good behaviors.
All of us embrace some beliefs we would be hard-pressed to defend with reason and evidence, but hopefully none of our significant beliefs fall into this category. Unfortunately, many people regard religious beliefs among those that do not require, or are not even susceptible to, critical examination. By virtue of this deadly misconception, feelings, not facts, often become the basis for joining a cult, even though the Christian world view, alone, stands firm under the scrutiny of reasoned analysis. If Christianity, has not been brought down by the arguments of some of the greatest minds in history, neither will it be brought low with someone you might be talking with or with questions you, yourself might have. Because Christianity is about the one who is Truth, scrutiny will not harm it.
The term ‘Blind Faith’ is oftened used to refer to a Christian’s beliefs. I think this is a wrong characterization. We should have faith in things we believe to be true, having done the best of our ability to determine the truth of those beliefs. It has been popular to blunt the claims of a supernatural Christianity through reason. The believer does not rule out the use of reason. Man has been created with a rationale, and God does expect man to use the mind given to him. God’s revelation is not irrational; nor must belief in it be irrationally held. God does not require us to suspend our critical faculties in order to believe what he has made know. Through Isaiah, God declares to Israel, "Come let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus commanded us to love God with all of our minds (Matthew 22:37). Blind faith does not produce lasting faith. (Don’t confuse Blind faith with understanding everything about God. We will never understand everything about God. God is infinite, we are finite. The finite can never comprehend the infinte.)
We live in an increasingly sophisticated and educated world. It is no longer enough to know what we believe. It is essential to know why we believe it. Believing something doesn’t make it true. A thing is true or not regardless of whether anyone believes it.
Back to I Peter, if we are unable to give reasons for our faith, and if we allow the same questions to defeat us in conversation time after time, we are being disobedient. By our own ignorance, we are confirming unbelievers in their unbelief.
Let’s go back to the verse in I Peter. There are sound practical reasons why this command has been given us. In the first place, it is necessary for the strengthening of our faith as Christians. If we know Jesus lives only because, as the hymn says, "He lives within my heart," we’re going to be in trouble the first time we don’t feel He’s there. And when someone from a non-Christian position claims to have experienced the same thing from his god, our mouths will be stopped. We may choose to ignore doubts, but eventually they will "get to us." One cannot drive himself indefinitely by willpower to believe something of which he is not intellectually convinced.
What is the goal for learning Apologetics?
Apologetics and the Gospel
While there are many serious objections to the biblical position, apologetics is the method by which we seek to turn away attacks on our faith. Apologetics is a strong tool in the proclamation of the gospel. Once the objections have been handled, the gospel can be presented, calling for a decision to receive Jesus as the Savior.
Our goal is all this is not to be an apologetic expert that can leap atheistic arguments in a single bound, but rather to let the light of God’s truth shine in all its brilliance. First, by learning to defend our faith, we will be built up, by starting to understand the deep, puzzling, of seemingly paradoxical riches of the Christian faith. We will understand our faith and, more importantly, appreciate in a more profound fashion the glory of the Creator we love and serve. Secondly, it should be our ambition to bring unbelievers to a recognition of the truth of Jesus Christ and to persuade them to put their faith in Him. The more intimately we understand what it is we are sharing, the more intelligently and convincingly we can do so. If we lose sight of this, we might win the apology (argument), but we have lost the real case (the case for Christ).
Remember, it is the work of God alone in ethically effecting the rebellious hearts of men. It is NOT the task of the apologist or the evangelist. Their task, our task, is to proclaim the truth, and that is all. God does the rest.
Conclusion
Apologetics is typically a response to a specific question or challenge, either stated outright or just implied. Paul reasoned with the Jews, for whom the cross was a stumbling block, "explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead." In the second century, apologists defended not only Christian beliefs but also Christians themselves against such charges as atheism and cannibalism and being threats to the state. In the Medieval era, more attention was given to the challenges of Judiasm and Islam. In the era of the Enlightenment, apologists had to defend Christianity against the narrow confines of scientific rationalism. Today the challenge has shifted again, this time from attacks on specific doctrines to the question of whether Christianity has any claim to final truth at all. Like our forebears, we must answer the challenges of our day. We must respond to our contemporaries’ questions as difficult and uncomfortable as that might be.
Also, don't lose sight of the ultimate goal in apologetics: To let the light of God's truth shine in all it's brilliance.
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