“Good philosophy must exist, if
for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” –C. S. Lewis
The other day someone said to me that
apologetics is a hobby. Is that correct? Is apologetics just a hobby? I have
also had someone tell me once that apologetics is not necessary. This was after
I had told him that I had a degree in apologetics. Did I spend ten + years of
my life on something unnecessary? Many people have the assumption that
apologetics is merely arguing with a Mormon
or a Jehovah’s Witness or
even a Buddhist. But
realistically, when one thinks that, he or she is revealing his or her
ignorance on apologetics.
Apologetics (Ἀπολογία) is the act of replying with a defense against charges
presumed to be false. It is a branch of philosophy which seeks to defend the
Christian faith. Some have borrowed the word apologetics in order to explain that they are defending their own
religion, such as Islamic apologetics, etc., but we can all agree that
apologetics is more than just an answer, as some Bible translations like to put
it but it is in fact a defense. So
what are we defending? We will get to that in a moment.
One thing we must remember is that
apologetics focuses on the person and not simply the argument. We are not
getting into a debate in order for debate. That might actually be a hobby, but
when apologetics is taken seriously, there is a higher purpose: to reveal the
truth. In 1 Timothy, Paul explains to Timothy why he is writing: “I hope to
come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I
delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is
the church of the living God, a pillar
and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15; emphasis mine). If 1 Timothy is the blueprint for the church and
the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth, then we can conclude that
the church should therefore, defend the truth (John 14:6), which is that the gospel
is exactly what the Bible says it is. In other words, Timothy is told to “guard
the deposit” in 1 Tim. 6:20, which means that he is to protect the precious
cargo of the gospel against any type of reduction or mislabeling. The value of
the deposit must not change in any way, because it has infinite and priceless
value.
If we do not stand guard and
oppose the enemy, then we are allowing the enemy to essentially change the
truth (which is literally impossible, I know). This is why we fight back with
reason and in defense and show people why, for instance, homosexuality and idolatry are moral failures.
This is why we reason with other people who try to manipulate the truth of the
gospel, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses
and Mormons and
Scientologists and Christian Scientists, etc.
But if we do not stand up for the
truth as Paul so urgently directed Timothy, then what we have built will
crumble around us. Think of the theology of the 1950’s for a moment. Not many thought
that it was ok to be a homosexual. Why? Because they upheld the understanding
of biology and that truth was not what we made it but it was something that we
discovered. We discovered for years and years and years that only a male and a
female can reproduce, and not two males. But this knowledge was not protected
as it should have been. Look where we are today. The truth has not been
defended.
Imagine a Christian grandfather in
the 50’s from a small town in Minnesota traveling through time and landing in
San Francisco in the present year. He would wonder where humanity went wrong!
We went wrong in not defending the faith… we went wrong in not guarding the
deposit. We built things on foundations other than on Christ (1 Corinthians 3).
This is why they crumbled. We need the solid foundation of Christ, the strong
foundation of Christ. And in order for that to happen, we need to have a
certain amount of knowledge
to build.
The point is, people will have
itching ears for what they want to hear. Paul addresses this with Timothy as
well in his second letter to Timothy (Chapter 4).
Apologetics is necessary in our
world. The Millennial generation and those following are generations which
continue to ask the questions “Why?” and “How?” As in, “why do we do things the
way we do, and why is Christianity the one true religion? Why can’t there be
more than one truth? How are people saved who have never even heard of Jesus?”
Apologetics provides evidence for
believing the answers to these questions. In a book Norman Geisler co-authored, he
writes, “While evidence itself does not bring about anyone’s salvation, it can
be a means through which the efficient work of the Holy Spirit produces
salvation in a person’s life.” Knowing this, then isn’t it of great
importance to have apologetic in our armory? If you tell a person who requires
evidence in order to believe something to simply have faith, what is that going
to do?
I recommend a book by Donald J.
Johnson, titled, “How to talk to a Skeptic.” In it, the author explains that the Bible is full of
evidenced based faith and once you have the idea that he lays down, it is easy
for the reader who is well versed in the Bible to see that no faith in the
Bible is something that God simply requires of us through a “blind trust,” as Richard
Dawkins, the face of modern atheism, put it. The skeptics and atheists today
seem to have more of a blind faith than Christians, simply because there is so
much evidence piling up in favor of Christianity.
Johnson explains, for instance,
that David goes up against the giant because he already killed a lion and a
bear and that the giant Philistine would be no different. David had evidence
that he could take the giant down. There is no blind trust involved.
The same thing goes for
Christianity. We believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead and performed
all of these miracles because of the men who died because of their testimony about Him.
Think of this… if you were driving
along and you saw a road-killed animal on the side of the road and for some reason you wanted to pull
over and examine the animal and all of the sudden, “there was a sound, and
behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And [you]
looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them,
and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them… and the breath came
into them, and they lived and stood on their feet…” (Ezekiel 37:7-8, 10).
Imagine what that would do to your life! You saw old beaten up, smelly roadkill
come to life! It would absolutely change your world. In fact, you would be so
changed that even after you were in a padded institution for 12 years, you
still would not be able to stop talking about what you witnessed with your own
eyes.
This is what happened with the
Disciples of Christ. They saw Him be beaten and murdered and then they
witnessed Him resurrected. They couldn’t stop talking about it. Not only that,
they talked about it so much that they were murdered themselves. The Disciples
of Christ took this truth to their graves. If it were all the biggest prank in
the history of the world, they would have confessed at the threat of their
death. No one dies without real meaning. We know this. Either people are killed
by their own hand because of depression or some other negative reason, or they
die of a disease or an accident. No one dies from old age, there is always a
reason for death. In any event, there is always a good reason for death. It is
never a joke.
Without apologetics, these things
would not be understood as they should be. The evidence would not be examined
and people would believe through blind trust. In the gospel of John, Jesus is
asked by the Pharisees to provide a miracle for them to prove that Jesus was
who He showed He was. But the problem with their reasoning in this passage is
that Jesus already provided them with proof that He was God. He already gave
them bread from heaven by multiplying the loaves and the fish earlier, which is
recorded in the same chapter!
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly,
I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you
ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for
the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.
For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must
we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of
God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what
sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it
was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the
true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and
gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” –John 6:26-34
Apologetics is necessary for
pastors, for lay leaders, and for anyone who calls him or herself a Christian,
whether they have been a Christian for a day or for ten thousand days. It will
help one have confidence in time of doubt, It will help one be a better
evangelist, it will help one think critically, and ultimately, it will bring
glory to God.
One of them, an expert in the law,
tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in
the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind.” –Matthew
22:36-37
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2022
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