Chapter One - Introduction to Apologetics
1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter is designed to introduce you to the study of apologetics. It is divided into the following sections:
Provide a definition of apologetics and discuss its value;
Look at the areas where apologetics finds its support and verification; and
Examine the methodology of apologetics.
2. DEFINITION AND VALUES
2.1 Definition
2.1.1 Legal
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.
2.1.2 Biblical
The term apologetics (apologeomai) in its biblical sense, means to "provide an answer in return." Apologia, in 1 Peter 3:15, signifies that every believer is to "make a defense" to anyone who asks concerning the hope to him. Apologetics, in a much wider sense then, is the biblical response of the believer to the attacks upon his doctrine and his faith.
2.2 Function of Apologetics
Apologetics attempts to defends the justification of Christian faith and the revelation given in the Holy Scriptures (i.e. Holy Bible).
2.3 Values of Doing Apologetics
2.3.1 More than experience
People usually come to faith because of the compelling experiences found in Christ. We need more than experience, however, to live triumphantly in today's complex world. We must reply on a biblical view which includes a proper use of the intellect. We need to use all factual information supporting biblical claims and the rules for thinking logically. We need also to use what we can obtain through the scientific method.
2.3.2 We can defend ourselves
Believers today face several hostile non-Christian systems:
Certain types of language philosophy insist that biblical statements cannot be verified by the scientific method, and therefore have no meaning.
Atheistic existentialism states that "we are free to choose our own being." A person can, therefore, be completely free to make of himself whatever he wants without being responsible to God.
Marxism's explanation of the universe denies any claim for God because God cannot be tested scientifically.
There are only three of the competing systems and problems we face as Christians, and we use apologetics to defend ourselves against these attacks. The believer must recognize the conclusions derived from the truth claims by non-biblical positions cannot have the same validity asserted by Christianity, but it is still necessary to understand the opposing systems to defend oneself.
2.4 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.
3. AREAS OF CONCERN
Apologetics is the attempt to demonstrate the truthfulness of our theology. To do so, we must have some objective attempt to demonstrate that our beliefs are viable, relating to sets of information in this world. Concerns of grace and faith are in an "upper storey" experience, while scientific methods and specific factual evidence are in the "lower storey" experience. "Upper storey" information cannot be tested by the verification procedures of this world.
There are three areas of concern necessary for apologetics, combining upper and lower storey materials necessary to defend our faith, they are:
Experience;
Verifiable Facts; and
Miraculous.
3.1 Experience
The experience of redemption verifies what happens to a believer as a result of faith in Jesus Christ. This is a good starting point because it is the one factor in which all believers are involved, and no one can deny what happened to us in a personal sense.
This same experience has also worked in the lives of other believers in every generation. Old Testament believers testified that their transgressions had been removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), and declared a change in the quality of their life-style as a result. New Testament Christians shared the same experience. Paul stated that he was once the foremost of all sinners (1 Timothy 1:12-13), but through the mercy found in the Messiah, his life was changed drastically.
3.2 Verifiable Facts
Verifiable facts of this world can be used to substantiate the validity and truthfulness of the Scriptures. We must realize that God has spoken through His selected servants in history and in specific locations. Some of these verifiable facts are:
3.2.1 History
The people of Israel have preserved their history through the documents they have carried through the centuries. God has committed His Word to them, and it is on record going back to the days of Moses, who lived during most of the 1400 BC.
We also have materials from outside the Scriptures which substantiate the Word of God. Josephus, the Jewish historian, in Antiquities of the Jews and Wars of the Jews, has provided a survey of the history of Jewish people from biblical times to the 1st century AD. Likewise, the church fathers of 100-200 AD have been a testimony to the validity of the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament (as we shall see in Chapter 3).
3.2.2 Archaeology
Archaeology also substantiates the historicity and geography of the Bible. For example, we now have tablets from the time of 2,000 to 1,500 BC describing the culture of this period, which is also the only time in history where we can confidently place the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (see Chapter 4 for further discussion on archaeology).
3.2.3 The manuscripts
For the past 100-150 years, the Bible has been subjected to severe criticism. As we shall see in Chapter 3, the efforts of lower criticism have demonstrated that the New Testament text can be traced back almost to its beginning. Through the manuscripts, papyri, and the church Fathers, we can be assured that the New Testament is the same today as it was when it was given.
The Old Testament poses more of a problem, but the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, dated to 200 BC to AD 100, substantiates the Old Testament of today. It also indicates for us the families of Old Testament manuscripts present in the Scrolls. From history as well as documents and traditions, we can confidently state that our faith is grounded in what can be tested.
3.3 Miraculous
To many Christians, it is the element of the supernatural which makes the Scriptures viable. However, much of the miraculous is related to fact. But how do we substantiate the miraculous? This can be done in the following three ways:
Israel;
Prophecy; and
Miracles.
3.3.1 Israel
How does one explain the existence and presence of the people Israel? God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees around 2,000 BC, making a covenant with him that He would be a God to him and to his descendants afterwards (Genesis 17:7). Through the centuries, the Israelities have gone through many experiences. Many of the nations coexistent with ancient Israel have disappeared, and yet Israel has survived, even under tremendous pressure. In this century alone, one-third of Jewish people were put to death during the Holocaust during the World War II by Hilter, but there is a State of Israel today! How can one explain the presence of the people of Israel across 4,000 years of history? Only by the miraculous, which has entered the flow of history and sustained the presence of that nation.
3.3.2 Prophecy
Throughout the centuries, God has spoken to certain selected men who have proclaimed a message hundreds of years into the future. Some of the prophecies from 2,500 years ago are yet to be fulfilled from our point of view today (e.g. Daniel 7:8). The tendency of the critic is to dismiss the prophets as mere dreamers, or to point out that other nations had prophets as well.
The validity of a prophet was based upon short-term and previous fulfilled prophecies which had to be 100% correct. "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is a thing which the Lord has not spoken" (Deuteronomy 18:22). The people were to test the prophet based on proclamations that were to be fulfilled in months, a year, or two years. If this were demonstrated, the Israelites realized that a true prophet existed in their midst, and that they must receive the long-term prophecies that extended over hundreds of years. Through prophecy, we see again how the supernatural impinges upon this world context, whereby people can test the miraculous of the prophecy.
3.3.3 Miracles
What about the other miracles of Scripture? Some miracles were performed in the open, where great numbers of people were able to see them. The parting of the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds) was such a tremendous experience in the life of the Israelites that they still remember it at Passover. The resurrection of Jesus was attested to by the apostles and disciples, and by many post-resurrection appearances. Again, the miraculous occurs within space and time and people can assess what happened. We shall say more about this in Chapter 5.
4. POSSIBILITY OF AN APPROACH IN APOLOGETICS
How shall we proceed to construct a proper apologetic? What part does reason, faith, or a combination of these play? We will discuss the role of presuppositions in Chapter 2, but for now it is necessary to point out the bases on which apologetics rests.
4.1 Reason
Most people are impressed by reason. 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.
4.2 Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is not so strange as some people think (see Chapter 2). All rationalistic thinking begins with assumptions, which are accepted by "faith." For Christians, faith is a life and soul trust that God's Word is true. What God has proclaimed in His Word is considered true because faith tells us that God cannot lie.
4.3 A Starting Point
What is the relationship between reason and faith? The believer begins with the element of faith, and that faith is then confirmed by reason. They are inter-related, but the leading edge will always be the genuine willingness to consider the biblical position. Once we have established the area that we are willing to consider by faith, we can then proceed to test it by reason or other means e.g. scientific methods.
5. IS CHRISTIANITY RATIONAL?
What is faith? Some people may say, "Believing something you know isn't true." That many non-Christians define faith this way is not surprising. That many believers secretly hold this view is tragic.
5.1 Don't Kiss Your Brains Good-by
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. This is certainly true of Christianity.
There are some erroneous viewpoints abroad among Christians today on the important question of whether Christianity is rational. The first is an anti-intellectual approach to Christianity. There are challengers to our faith on every hand. We are likely to be challenged by Muslims, Hindus and Buddists, all of them claiming valid religious experience that may approximate ours.
5.2 Know Some Answers
There are clear biblical commands to Christians to be intelligent in their faith: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3:15). If we are unable to give reasons for our faith, and if we allow the same questions to defeat us in conversation time afer time, we are being disobedient. By our own ignorance, we are confirming unbelievers in their unbelief.
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 are 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." We cannot drive ourselves indefinitely by willpower to believe something of which we are not intellectually convinced. In fact, when someone tells us the only reason we believe is because of our parents and our religious background, we must be able to show ourselves and others that what we believe is objectively true, regardless of who told us.
5.3 A Rational Body of Truth
Many non-Christians fail to consider the gospel seriously because no one has ever presented the facts to them cogently. They associate faith with superstition based primarily on emotional considerations, and therefore they reject it.
The gospel is always equated with truth. Truth is always the opposite of error (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). In writing to the Romans, the apostle Paul makes it clear that people have enough knowledge from creation itself to know there is a God (Romans 1:20). He goes on to show that the basic reason people do not know God is not because he cannot be known or understood but because human beings have rebelled against Him, their Creator. "Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him (Romans 1:21) ... and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man (1:23) ... They exchanged the truth of God for a lie" (1:25) and finally, they "did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God" (1:28).
5.4 Moral Smoke Screens
The moral issue always overshadows the intellectual issue in Christianity. It is not that people cannot believe - it is that he "will not believe." Why? It is abundantly clear that moral commitment leads to a solution of the intellectual problem. Alleged intellectual problems are often a smoke screen covering moral rebellion.
A friend once told me I had satisfactorily answered all his questions.
"Are you going to become a Christian?" I asked.
"No," he replied.
Puzzled, I asked, "Why not?"
He admitted, "Frankly, because it would mess up the way I'm living." He realized that the real issue for him was not intellectual but moral. For examples, he has to give up his immoral habits, such as smoking, immoral sexual activities, etc.
The question is often asked, "If Christianity is rational and true, why there are a lot of people don't believe it?" The answer is simple. They don't want to believe it. It's not a matter of brain power, for there are outstanding Christians in every field of the arts, sciences and engineering. It is primarily a matter of the will.
5.5 Doubt Strikes Terror
Sometimes Christians question their faith and even wonder if it's true. Doubt is a word that strikes terror to the soul and could be suppressed in an unhealthy way. This is a particularly acute problem for those who have been reared in Christian homes and in the Christian schools. From their earliest years they have accepted the facts of Christianity solely on the basis of confidence and trust in parents, friends, teachers, classmates and ministers. As the educational process develops, a re-examination of their position takes place.
When young people begin to question and appear to have doubts, they should be welcomed into a climate where they are free to "unload" and express their doubts. Many such young people have been driven undergound and lost to the cause of Christ because the adults with whom they first talked had a high stock index. They implied that a good Christian would never doubt. When they meet this response they quickly shift gears and mouth the party line, even though it doesn't come from the heart. They quietly wait until they are out from under pressure to conform, and then they shed a faith that had never become their very own.
Doubt and questioning are normal to any thinking person. It is better for us to hear the questioner out and, if possible, even sharpen the question a little more. Then an answer can be suggested. Because Christianity is about the one who is Truth, scrutiny will not harm it.
5.6 Don't Hit the Panic Button
If we don't have the answer at the moment, we needn't hit the panic button. It is improbable that anyone thought up, last week, the question that will bring Christianity crashing down. Brilliant minds have thought through the profound questions of every age and have ably answered them.
We don't have full answers to every question because the Lord hasn't fully revealed His mind to us on everything. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever" (Deuteronomy 29:29). We possess enough information, however, to have a solid foundation under our faith. Christianity is based on evidence. It is reasonable faith.
5.7 A Doubter's Response
A doubter needs to see that he must come to a decision after having been given an answer. To make no decision is to decide against the Christian position. Continued doubt in the face of adequate information may indicate an unwillingness to believe, and this may be a result of the questioner's will having been set against God.
For the strengthening of our own faith and for the help of others, we must be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us a reason for the hope that is within us, for Christianity is rational!
This course "apologetics" is intended to spotlight commonly asked questions and to suggest at least preliminary answers as we shall see in future Chapters..
6. REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER STUDY