Do Christians Need To Apologize For Their Faith?

*What is an apologist? Is he apologizing for something? It sounds like he’s apologizing for his faith. |* Image courtesy of Pexels Wendy Affieplaas.

Should We Apologize?

I had a friend who lived across the street from me growing up. He grew up in a non-religious home, and his father especially was not a fan of anything religious it seemed. He, himself, picked up on this and shared a non-theistic worldview. One day, we were both in town from school and we were catching up from the semester.

Topics included the standard: classes, degree programs, campus life, and other school-related topics that college students complain about. We then moved on to what we were reading. At the time I was reading The Reason for God by Tim Keller and shared that he was a pastor and an apologist.

At this moment, my friend looked at me and said, perplexed:

What is an apologist? Is he apologizing for something? It sounds like he’s apologizing for his faith.

Apologetics is Must

Apologetics, as my friend brought to my attention, can sometimes be a little-known topic. Recently, there has been a renaissance in apologetics in the Evangelical church. This is mostly due to the need to respond to the New Atheist movement that characterized the late 1990s and 2000s.

Books like God is Not Great, Waking Up, and The God Delusion made headlines as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett made striking attacks on Christianity and faith in general.

Philosophers rose to the challenge. William Lane Craig, Normal Geisler, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, and Frank Turek led the charge of returning Faith to prominence in the public square. This ushered in a movement in the Church around the country that has centered on the equipping of her members for the work of ministry. Being intellectual about the faith, as it seems, is not taboo anymore.

Today, as people become more spiritual instead of less, apologetics is a necessity in order to justify the Christian Faith and to reach those who do not know Jesus with wisdom, tact, and grace.

A Chair-Like Faith

Look at it this way. In the movie The Patriot, Mel Gibson’s character builds a chair. This chair looked great. You can set it up outside on your porch and watch the rain go by. Or you could put it in your living room and read. It looks like a great chair. When the builder of the chair went to sit in the chair. 3 seconds passed and CRASH. The chair broke in 30 pieces and the builder was angry because his chair fell apart.

I fear that discipling others without Apologetics causes people to have a Chair-Like faith that looks good on the outside but lacks the depth to handle pressure from the outside. Apologetics is vital to the finishing of Discipleship.

So Apologetics, What is It?

The concept of Apologetics comes from the Greek term Apologia. The word “Apologia” can be found in 6 books in the New Testament (Acts 22:1, 25:16; 1 Cor 9:3; 2 Cor 7:11; Phil 1:7, 1:16, 1:17; 2 Tim 4:16, and 1 Pet 3:15) in its various forms. This word means to “defend” or “to make a defense of”. Someone who is engaging in Apologetics is simply someone who is making a defense of their faith. Evangelists make a defense when they preach and defend the message they preach. Teachers engage in apologetics when they defend their sermon points or when they engage with questions from the crowd. Those who go before a court of law engage in apologetics as they defend their case.

Apologetics is Vital to Discipleship

Everyone is an apologist whether they realize it, and whether they categorize their actions as such or not. If you are going to engage someone of a different worldview with your faith, you are going to end up being an apologist at some point as they ask you questions about your faith.

So, What are Some Questions that Are Hard Hitting Nowadays?

Each age has its own Questions. Today, the questions either hit to the core of human identity or deal with issues of morality. Here are a couple of examples:

How should Christians view the LGBTQ community?

This question has split churches recently; most notably the United Methodist Church split just a few years ago. Should people who are actively engaged in an LGBTQ lifestyle hold positions in the clergy? Is living an LGBTQ lifestyle a reflection of sin? Is Paul referring to Pederasty when he writes of homosexuality or is he seeking to discuss Same-Sex relationships of all stripes? These are some of the main questions revolving around this issue.

Is God just when flooding the earth/killing the Caananites/judging anyone, etc?

This question can be summed up as “Is God Good?” Essentially, is God justified in his actions when he condemned humanity for various actions over the course of the Old Testament? Marcion in the 2nd century had so much disdain for the “Old Testament God” that he made his own canon! These questions are still cycling through today.

Is Abortion/IVF/ justifiable?

This question has begun to splinter the Pro-Life movement and a newer branch of abolitionists has arose. Is there any reason for a mother to have the right to kill a human being? Should provisions be made for IVF for mothers dealing with infertility? What are the implications of giving mothers the ability to kill their child in the womb?

Is God in you?

The New Age and Christ Consciousness movements have asked the questions: “What does it mean to be human and divine?” and “What is our relationship to the “Divine?” Russell Brand has recently come out of the New Age movement and has made headlines in the culture with his new-found faith. We pray that he continues to be discipled.

What Other Questions Are There?

There are plenty of other questions that Christians face today. Questions of AI, Political Authority, Church Authority, and difficult cultural issues will continue to face us going forward. For the apologist, we must be ready with humility, grace, and patience, while being able to wrestle with the truth alongside other human beings who are trying to live on this side of eternity.

I pray that we are up to the task.