Most people sitting in the pews probably do not even know what "apologetics" means, let alone realize that it is something they are called to do. It does not refer to "apologizing" for anything in the modern sense of that word. It comes from the Greek word "apologia," usually translated as "answer." For example, 1 Peter 3:15 tells Christians to "Always be prepared to give an answer [apologia] to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." Apologetics is being prepared with answers to people's questions.
If you live your life openly in devotion to Christ, people will ask you questions. Sometimes this will come in the form of open and honest inquiries. Sometimes people will sound like they are making fun of your faith, but underneath their jokes are masking their real insecurity and the questions that haunt them every day.
Too many people today believe that apologetics is best reserved for the intellectual elite, but most questions are not asked of seminary professors. People ask questions of their friends, workmates and neighbors. What would you say if someone asked you why you are a Christian? Most of us would talk about our conversion. We might say something like, "My friend John invited me to a church service, I heard the pastor preach and his message really convinced me of my own sin..." The problem is that you have answered the question of why you are a Christian by explaining how you became one. These are not the same thing. The questioner will politely nod his or her head, all the while thinking that if a Muslim had invited you to a mosque or a Wiccan had invited you to her coven you would be a Muslim or Wiccan instead of a Christian. It all sounds like luck of the draw.
How and why are not the same questions. Peter tells us to be prepared to explain why. This requires us to use our minds, not just our feelings. This should not surprise us. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 23:37). It is amazing how many Christians love God with their hearts and souls but forget about their minds.
Paul was not afraid to use his mind. He told the church in Corinth, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4-5). Paul was accustomed to people raising "arguments" against him, but he knew that no argument could possibly disprove Christianity because Christianity is true! People may convince themselves that an anti-Christian argument is valid, but in reality it is only a "pretension" that they use to avoid facing their own sin.
Our culture is becoming increasingly skeptical of Christianity. We tend to think of the church as a club to belong to. It is quaint and people may enjoy the camaraderie they experience with the other members. But few people actually believe that the truths advanced by the Christian faith are worth any serious intellectual consideration. Nobody really believes that people rise from the dead anymore.
During the nineteenth century a number of intellectual attacks were launched against Christianity. Philosophers began to claim that we could never truly know God. Darwin argued that God was not needed to explain the existence of humanity. German scholars questioned whether the Bible was even historical. Rather than face these new challenges head on, the church largely withdrew from intellectual debate altogether, perpetuating a distinction between intellectual matters and spiritual ones.
But if God really exists, He must stand up to intellectual challenges as well as spiritual ones. God cannot be illogical. Because the church failed to address the intellectual movement, the culture began to be shaped in such a way that Christianity was thought to be anti-intellectual, incapable of sustaining a logical defense of its beliefs.
Modern apologetics shows that this is far from the truth. Christianity can provide answers to the most challenging of questions.
- How can you believe God exists in today's scientific era?
- How could a loving God permit so much suffering in the world?
- Isn't Christianity intolerant for claiming to be the only path to God?
- How can miracles be possible?
- Why is what you believe to be true and better than what I believe to be true?
Scripture tells us to be prepared to answer questions like these. Are you?
Most churches do an excellent job at teaching proper theology to the congregation, but apologetics unfortunately takes a back seat. You do not need to have a Ph.D. in quantum mechanics in order to answer people's questions. People in God's church all have different gifts and callings. Some people will be better equipped to act as apologists to the scientists and intellectuals of the world. But we are all called to be able to provide at least some basic answers. For many skeptics that will be enough, and you will find that your faith will be strengthened in the process. In fact, you may just find that some of these concepts are not as complicated as you feared.
We here at Ten Minas Ministries want to help Christians be prepared to answer our cultures questions. TMM President can come to your church and put on a seminar, retreat or workshop to help train your members how to interact with an increasingly skeptical world. There is no fixed charge for a TMM event. We simply ask that you provide transportation and lodging (if necessary) if your church is outside the Washington DC to Philadelphia corridor, and consider a free will offering at the event or a donation to our ministry in an amount of your choosing.
Contact us today and we would be happy to explore your church's needs in more detail:
Ken Coughlan, President Ten Minas Ministries P.O. Box 827 Havre de Grace, Maryland 21078
(410) 935-0701 ContactUs@ TenMinasMinistries.org
God bless you.
(c) 2011 Ten Minas Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 827, Havre de Grace, MD 21078; (410) 935-0701
