(Please note: For better understanding, please read the previous parts of this study before reading this one.)
Why
should we do Apologetics?
The attacks
against the scriptures comes from diverse fields. Acquiring the basic tools
of Christian Apologetics helps to defend against those attacks and helps the
faith being shaken by the worldly knowledge and philosophies. In spite of the
changes in approach, the basic principle of Apologetics remains the same: To
defend our faith.
From previous sections in this study,
we have already seen that:
- Bible commands us to do Apologetics.
- Jesus has set an example for Apologetics.
- Paul, Peter, Jude and other Apostles taught and practiced Apologetics.
- Early Church practiced Apologetics.
- Despite the temporary dormancy, Apologetics has evolved itself in Modern Christian world.
Ø Importance and Practical Value of Apologetics
Christian Apologetics
targets 3 broad categories of people.
1. Critics:
Ø To defend the
attacks against the Christian Faith from critics.
2. Unbelievers:
Ø To help sincere
seekers of truth overcome the barriers of doubts preventing the Christian
faith.
3. Believers:
Ø To help the
believers to stand strong in the faith by empowering.
Defend
accusations from critics against scriptures
In 1
Peter 3:15, Bible advises us to be able to defend our faith against those who
questions us about the spiritual truth.
Not
only that the criticisms against the Christian faith have received so much
media coverage but also the media is very biased against Christianity, and we
can see negative opinions of Christianity promoted everywhere.
There
has been attack on Christian faith all through out the history. Every
generation of these critics brings up different and new objections. A person
who is trained in systematic Apologetics would be able to identify that all
these accusations fall in to same set of broader categories. An apologist
should be well trained to identify the category of the question/accusation so
that he would be able to hold the stand without loss of words.
Instead
of avoiding being confronted with questions, a Christian should be able to acquire
the basic knowledge to use the conclusions published by numerous scholars in
defense of Christian faith. There are several resources out there done by
highly qualified and dedicated men to prove that Science is not against Bible
and those can be used against the arguments put across to Christians about the
reliability of Bible.
Provide reasoning,
as an aid for faith, to unbelievers
Fundamental
principle of Christianity is that the starting point is faith. However, the
Bible shows that once faith is established, reasoning can aid it to be
consistent and non- staggering. Apostle Paul prays in Colossians 1:9-10 to
help the believers to grow in knowledge of God through all the wisdom and
understanding that the Spirit gives. Hence, though Apologetics cannot create
faith in a person, it can aid the maintenance of faith by removing the
hindrances of scientific, logical and human reasoning. Knowledge of Apologetics
certainly helps when answering the sincere questions from an unbeliever. For
this task, an Apologist depends upon the role played by God the Holy Spirit in helping
both the Apologist [to communicate the message to people] and the recipient. [to
understand and accept the message]
Believers
are called to be the light and salt of the world. To achieve this goal, we
should be able to witness the Gospel, publicly addressing the concerns of the
public. It is our mission to create a countercultural communal presence in the
society by advocating that Jesus is Lord over all systems, ideologies and
institutions. We are called to think, even though the world around us does not
think or at best thinks in non-Christian categories.
Remove sincere
questions/doubts from believers mind.
Statistics
shows 3 out of 4 young Christians abandon their faith while they are in the
first few years of their college education. Though they were raised in
Christian families, they end up not knowing what to believe and why to believe
it. We are losing a generation just because of the incapability to stand
against the attacks of the rational world against the faith. Often youth come
to a conclusion that if they do not know the answer to a question, then correct
or satisfactory answers do not exist.
The young
Christians are not the only people facing this challenge. Even experienced
Christians are often caught off guard for some questions from the rationalists.
In 1 Corinthians 16:13, Paul urges the believers to stand firm in the faith.
When doubts arise, the believer becomes like the wave of the sea, tossed and
blown by the wind [James 1:6]. That is why Jude encouraged the church in his
epistle (verse 22) to be merciful to those who doubt. Bible advices us to be
aware of the enemy’s tactics and inducing doubt in a believer’s heart is
certainly one of the tactics of the devil to deprive him of the faith.
If a
believer has some basic knowledge about the challenges from the errant
movements and is prepared for facing them, his/her own faith becomes stronger. Apologetics
comes handy in this aspect. The better a person knows about his own faith, the
more effective will he be able to share it.
This also helps to prevent doctrinal apostasy in the Church and to
answer the false claims of cults and religions.
Colossians
2:2-3 urges the believers to have the full riches of complete understanding, in
order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
What Apologetics is not?
Ø Apologetics is not for compromising with the attacks
towards faith.
The
very essence of Apologetics is non compromise. Compromising to find a middle
position is a slow poison to kill the truth and is more harmful than the fierce
attack against the Christian faith. Reconciling theory of evolution and
creationism is a vain attempt since both theories differs in the fundamentals
from the presupposition levels itself. There are no "neutral"
assumptions from which a Christian advocating creationism can reason with a
non-Christian advocating evolution. Attempts to synthesis between evolution and
creationism (which is otherwise called Theistic
Evolution) ends in direct or indirect denial of Genesis creation account.
Ø Apologetics is not to “help” Bible for self defense.
Apologetics
is an activity which is more of man-ward character than directed toward Bible.
Though Apologetics is for addressing the reliability of the Bible, it is not to
defend the Bible as if it were incapable of self-defense. Rather, this field of
theology is meant to help to preserve the faith of those who are distressed due
to their questions or doubts. The scriptures need not be defended by man since
it has overcome several assaults through out the history. Apologetics is not
helping the Bible, but helping a true inquirer.
Ø Apologetics is not to “prove” that Bible is the word
of God.
Since
Apologetics is a man-ward activity, it can never be used to prove that Bible is
word of God. Accepting the Bible as word of God is an act of faith by a
believer. The purpose of Apologetics is
just to direct the inquirer to see that the attacks towards the Bible are not
valid. It even can help a person to understand that science actually does not
contradict Bible. This will be a supportive action for one to understand and
believe in the biblical truth.
Ø Apologetics is not for intellectually forcing
unbelievers to submission.
Creation
of faith in an unbeliever is not the aim of Apologetics. Nor does it aid in any
way to create faith in a skeptical mind by forcing that person intellectually. The
apologist seeks to remove the intellectual thorns and emotional rocks that
prevent people from finding the true path to God. This removal of barriers of
human knowledge may aid a doubting person to make the leap of faith and help a
believer to be deeper in his faith.
Ø Apologetics is not to meet the rationalist demands for
faith.
Christian
Apologetics is NOT for those people who seek rational reasons to believe in
a statement. Though the rational content of Christian faith is fully logical,
accurate and reliable, no amount of evidence is enough to make a person
claiming rationalist to believe against his will. Interestingly, the demands
placed by rationalists gives an Apologist the standards with which he can evaluate the
apologetic statements.
Ø Apologetics is not for winning the debates on
religions.
Apologetics
is to establish the truths in the scriptures, not to get carried away by the
feeling of victorious debates. Bible warns us against entering into unnecessary
and time wasting debates. It is to be remembered that debates are not the
strategy to discuss spiritual truths. The impact of an Apologetic presentation
is reduced, if the presenter allows a willful debater to take the control away
for mockery, sarcasm and other deceptions.
Ø Apologetics is not to be used as an alternative to
evangelization.
Proclaiming
the Gospel will bear fruit even if there is much unbelief in the air. Apologetics
is neither to pave the way for
conveying Gospel, by “proving” the divinity of the Bible. The power of the Gospel
works miracles in people’s hearts and is capable of turning a person believer.
However, if he asks questions, Apologetics can help in removing the barriers of
doubts from a true seeker, so that he can find his way to the faith. Only Holy
Spirit can cure the unbelief of a person and Apologetics is to be used only
after Holy Spirit’s intervention in a person to open his heart for the
spiritual truths.
Ø Apologetics is not a treatment of deliberate
disbelief.
Apologetics
is only a cure for sincere doubts not for deliberate disbelief. Faith comes
from a free will and no person can induce faith to a person by rational
argumentations or demonstrating evidences.
Ø Apologetics is not scientism.
Scientism
is the belief that only science can prove a statement. This is not true and Apologetics
does not try to explain everything based on current science. Rather, it uses
science where it is a scientific subject, history where it is a historical
subject, logic where it is a logical subject, and faith where is a matter that
can be understood only by faith
Criticisms against Christian Apologetics
Many Christians
oppose the idea of Apologetics for various reasons. Main criticisms against
Christian Apologetics are analyzed below:
Argument #1:
Bible does not
need to be defended since it is alive and powerful (Hebrews. 4:12)
Response:
Apologetics is not for defending the
Bible or helping the Bible to prove its reliability. This is a man-ward
activity where a human is being helped to understand the infallibility of the
Bible.
Argument #2:
Human wisdom cannot understand God
(1 Corinthians 1:12) or Natural
humanity cannot understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2: 14)
Response:
This refers to the human depravity
and foolish rejection of the message of the cross, and not an argument against
providing proof for the unbeliever. Jesus has provided proof to an unbelieving
Thomas that he is alive. Also Acts 1:3 says, that Jesus gave convincing proof
to so many people that he was alive, before he was taken to heaven.
Indeed, even
though humankind knows clearly through human reason that God exists,
nevertheless, he 'suppresses' or 'holds down' this truth in unrighteousness
(Rom. 1: 18). Apologetics
aids not in receiving but in perceiving. No man can be forced to believe
against his will using Apologetics. The problem is not that unbelievers are not
aware of God's existence. They do not want to accept him because of the moral
consequences this would have on their sinful lives. Apologist’s role is to make
this awareness in a human heart. Only God can induce faith in a person.
Argument #3:
Without faith, no man can please God
(Hebrews 11:6)
Response:
This does not mean that reasoning
displeases God. Rather, 1 Peter 3:15 clearly urge us to use our reasoning to
aid in fight against the doubts that can jeopardize the faith in a later stage.
There have been several instances in Bible where God himself has given
evidences or proofs about His sovereignty. (Romans 1:20, Acts 1:3). Moreover, Apologetics
is not for somebody to please god, Rather its for removing the barriers of
faith.
Argument #4:
Jesus refused to give signs to evil
people (Luke 16:31) and hence we
should not answer a fool (Psalms 14:1) according to his folly (Proverbs 26:4).
Response:
Apologetics is not for winning debates
with Atheists. It is a tool for a sincere truth seeker rather than a blind
arguer. Jesus has offered his miracles as a proof of his messianic
authenticity. (Matthew. 11:4-5, Mark 2:10-11, Acts 2:22) although he refused to
do a miracle to satisfy King Herod’s curiosity (Luke 23:8) or to prove the
unbelievers to made a mockery on him while he was in the cross (Luke 23:35)
Proverbs 26:4 has to be read in
concordance with the next verse, 5. This passage is advising us to answer a
fool wisely so that he understands his folly. If we do not do this wisely, we
will make ourselves fools before him. We have to be very wise to choose how and
where we choose to confront false ideas.
Argument #5:
Reason is useless in religious
matters and existence of God cannot be proven by human reason.
Response:
Fideism argues that reason is of no
use in matters that deal with God. One must simply believe. Yes, only faith can
provide eternal salvation and Apologetics cannot induce faith. However, God
does not prohibit reasoning. It is the free will of the human to accept of
reject God. God would not insult the reason he gave us by asking us to ignore
it in such important matters as our beliefs about him.
Logic by itself cannot help us to
know whether anything exists. However, human reasoning can give sufficient
evidence (provide good reasons) for the existence of God and the truth of
Christianity. Furthermore, Apologetics is not a replacement for Gospel. It
simply is a stepping stone to find one’s way to the truth.
Behind the curtains,
the major reasons of opposition to Apologetics are of the following:
- Compromising with World (Dilution)
People who
believe in error-prone Bible oppose Christian Apologetics. While the critics of
the scriptures, believes this 100% it is a painful fact that even plenty of
Christians belong in this category. These spiritual compromisers want best of
both the worlds, consequently becomes hostile when someone defends Bible.
Pseudo Apologists
who have some knowledge in science or humanities but little training in
Apologists also often tend to make this compromise when they find the personal
system of Apologetics they built up is not sufficient. Moreover, due to
personal prejudices and ignorance, they try to impose their erroneous views on
others especially when they come in contact with a true Apologist.
- Distrust of Reason (Fideism)
People who
believes in Fideism (Human reason is useless in spiritual realm) also opposes Apologetics
since they believe faith and reason will never go together. This type of opposition comes from ignorance
of the fact that Christianity has an integrated approach to truth where faith
and reason go hand in hand in many realms of spiritual truth. So we cannot
think that reason is for natural world while faith is for spiritual world.
- Fear of attacks (Escapism)
Some people
prefer to run away from the attacks against their faith since they find
themselves not equipped to face them and consequently oppose the idea of Apologetics
because of prejudice. Fleeing from doubts is harmful to self and others since
at some point of time, these people will susceptible to the fall from the faith
due to the loss of mental peace. Though Apologetics is little hard to study and
master, one should be courageous enough to make an honest effort on it for the
defense of one’s faith.
- Willful blind opposition (Defiance)
The blind and
willful opposition to Apologetics are mainly due to 2 types of defiance.
Ø Stubborn defiance
Apologists
often face much hostility from people who are willfully and stubbornly opposing
Apologetics. It would be a vain attempt
and waste of time to try to convince them the truth, since they are not sincere
inquirers. Another type of stubborn defiance to Apologetics is from Christians
who are insensitive to other’s spiritual problems and doubts. These people are
hardened towards others who face real-world problems and dilemmas. These people
also may not listen to Apologists.
Ø Ignorant defiance
This
type of defiance comes from those who never had doubts and those who never faced
any attacks to their faith. People with ignorant defiance can be engaged to
mutual discussions. Such people may come to the knowledge that their opposition
is ill founded, if an Apologist reasonably explains the facts. Just because
they never had doubts or were never attacked, it is not fair to assume that
others are equally safe or insulated.
Apologetics Vs Polemics
Polemics is the
area of theology which deals with the attacks to true faith from within the
Church, whereas Apologetics deals with the attacks from outside world. The
attacks from within the Church are in two forms.
- Distorted Bible Interpretation.
The perverted
doctrines existed within the Christian realm right from the era of New
Testament. Back then, the prominent among these type of polemics were Gnostics
[taught
intuitive knowledge as way of salvation], Nestorians [emphasized
the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus], Ebionites [insisted
on the necessity of following Jewish religious law and rites], Pelagians [taught Mortal
Will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid.], Arians [believed
that ‘God the Son’ in trinity is subordinate to ‘God the Father’ in trinity] etc. The modern
forms of this type of attacks include the radicals, the ecumenists, the
Christian New Age movements, those who teach salvation through baptism, those
who attack the person of Christ (Smithism/Poonenism), and those who Hinduize
Christian doctrines (Prajapati Proponents, Christian Vedantists), etc.
- False cults who proclaim they are the true Christians.
Cults are groups
which attack the true fundamentals of the Christian faith. Jehovah Witnesses,
Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, Roman Catholics, The Toronto Movement, etc are
examples of this type of Polemics. The number and types of this attack are
increasing day by day and the leaven of their erroneous teachings is spreading very
fast.
The ultimate
purpose of both Apologetics and Polemics is to refute error and to establish
truth. Hence a true Apologist should be expert in both Apologetics and Polemics
and vice versa.
(To be continued...)
Your Brother In Christ,
Finny Samuel
References:
ü
Wikipedia
[http://www.wikipedia.org/]
ü
Oxford
Dictionaries [http://oxforddictionaries.com]
ü
Online
Etymology [http://www.etymonline.com]
ü
CARM
Website [http://carm.org]
ü
www.bethinking.org
ü
www.freecourses.org
