Why Apologetics?
The word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word “apologia” and means, “a verbal defense; a reasoned argument.“
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “apologetics” as “a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity.”
Christian apologetics is the presenting of a rational defense for Christianity through the use of evidence and sound reasoning as it relates to the sciences, e.g archeology, biology, geology, mathematics and physics. It also includes subjects such as creation, biblical inerrancy, ethics, philosphy and logic.
WE ARE TO BE READY TO DEFEND THE FAITH!
1 Peter 3:15 - “…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…“
2 Corinthians 10:5 - “…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…”
Jude, verse 3 - “…although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints…”
WE’RE FACING AN EPIDEMIC!
Current statistics suggest that approximately 75% of Christian youth leave the church after high school!
WHY?
Because they (and often their parents) have not been taught that Christianity is a REASONABLE faith. Then, these “Christian” kids are virtually unprepared for the anti-Christian onslaught that they experience from college professors (very often atheists) that openly mock Christianity and view evangelical Christian students with disdain and contempt.
EVEN WORSE…many Christian parents have been paying for Atheism!
“Children spend the majority of their waking hours in school. Parents invest a good portion of their life savings in college education and entrust their offspring to people who are supposed to educate them. Isn’t it wonderful that educators have figured out a way to make parents the instruments of their own undoing? Isn’t it brilliant that they have persuaded Christian moms and dads to finance the destruction of their own beliefs and values? Who said atheists aren’t clever?”
Dinesh D’Souza
“To be ignorant and simple now - not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground - would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”
C.S. Lewis
“In addition to serving, like the rest of theology in general, as an expression of our loving God with all our minds, apologetics specifically serves to show to unbelievers the truth of the Christian faith, to confirm that faith to believers, and to reveal and explore the connections between Christian doctrine and other truths…Apologetics…is a theoretical discipline that tries that tries to answer the question, What rational defense can be given for the Christian faith?”
Dr. William Lane Craig