Taking Every Thought Captive

Got Life? Get Life! Our Ministry What We Do Our Beliefs What We Believe Our Staff Massimo Lorenzini Jay Wegter Articles Abortion Apologetics Art Assurance Atonement Bible Study Book Reviews Children Church Conversion Christian Living Creationism Cults Da Vinci Code Depravity Discipleship Doctrines of Grace Environmentalism Ethics Evangelism Exodus Gospel of Mark History Homosexuality Israel Jeremiah Law of God Manhood Marriage Missions Paul Perseverance/Security Pornography Postmodernism Prayer Presuppositionalism Problem of Evil Proverbs Repentance Revival/Spiritual Renewal Roman Catholicism Salvation Sanctification Satan Scripture Memory Sin Spiritual Disciplines Suffering Suicide Theology Tolerance Women Worldview What's New? New Articles and Ministry News Contact Us Contact Info Resources Audio & Print Resources Bookstore Order Books Here Search Search Our Site Links Other Helpful Websites Massimo's Blog Witnessing Without Fear Featured Article Support this Site Featured Books

The Church’s Need Apologetics By Massimo Lorenzini       Definition of apologetics and the various approaches   Christian apologetics is the reasoned defense and vindication of the Christian worldview. It involves negative and positive aspects. Negatively, apologetics seeks to answer objections and accusations against the Christian faith. Positively, apologetics seeks to establish the truthfulness of the Christian faith by reasoned argument and evidence. The primary biblical text in support of apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15 where we are commanded to be always ready to make a defense (Gk. apologia) for the hope that is in us, with gentleness and respect.   The central tasks of apologetics are:   To make a defense of the biblical Christian worldview against the objections or accusation of skeptics by answering specific questions and removing intellectual obstacles to faith. Vindicate the claims, or demonstrate the coherence of the Christian worldview seeking to show that it alone answers the ultimate questions of origins, purpose, identity, destiny, etc. Refute false religions or worldviews by demonstrating their internal incoherence and failure of their claims to correspond to established facts of history, science, etc. One also refutes false systems of belief by showing that Christianity alone makes intelligibility and human predication possible. It doesn’t self-destruct, rationally. Persuade the listener to become a Christian by means of gospel proclamation. Such a presentation is done in the awareness of fallen man’s darkened mind and the necessity for the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.   The various approaches to Christian apologetics as identified by Kenneth Boa and Robert Bowman in Faith Has Its Reasons are: Classicalism. This approach is dominant in church history. Classical apologetics seeks to defend Christianity using deductive reasoning, that if the premises are true the conclusion must also be true. It uses the knowledge from natural theology to make the case for theism and then to marshal the evidence that this God is the God of the Bible. Proponents include Norman Geisler and William Lane Craig. Evidentialism. Evidential apologetics defends Christianity using inductive reasoning and argues a probability case (or preponderance of the evidence) for Christianity. Relies on facts to speak for themselves. Proponents include Gary Habermas and John Warwick Montgomery. Presuppositionalism. Recognizing the myth of neutrality and beginning with an acknowledged pre-commitment to Christ, presuppositional apologetics uses the transcendental argument to show that all non-Christian thought reduces to absurdity due to incoherence and irrationality. Non-Christian theism is not able to supply the necessary preconditions for intelligibility and human predication. Granting the unbeliever a position of neutrality in evaluating the truth claims of Christianity is not possible due to the noetic effects of sin and because all facts are inter-related and interpreted through the grid of one’s worldview. We cannot reason in an epistemological vacuum. The transcendental argument calls the unbeliever to forsake his faulty worldview and embrace the Christian one. Proponents include the late Greg Bahnsen and John Frame. Fideism. Fideism believes that no defense is necessary or possible since the truthfulness of Christianity in entirely a subjective matter. A conversion experience is what is emphasized. One just knows that he knows in his knower.   Why does the church need apologetics?   The church needs apologetics as a necessary component of its Great Commission task. Non-Christians often have intellectual objections to the Christian message. Many Christians also have questions and doubts about what they believe. Christian apologetics is needed, therefore, to help remove the obstacles to faith among non-Christians and to strengthen the faith of Christians and aid in their spiritual growth as they gain trust and confidence in God’s Word. God created us as rational beings and apologetics provides us with answers that can remove doubts and see the coherence of the Christian worldview and that it does correspond to the real world.   Many people, including Christians, are not aware of the many reasoned answers and evidences Christian apologetics can provide to the intellectual challenges of our day. It is incumbent upon church leaders to teach apologetics in the churches that God’s purpose of calling out a people for His name from all nations, and seeing them progressively conformed to the image of Christ (in time) might be accomplished to the praise of His glory.   How to integrate apologetics into a local church ministry   Plan to offer apologetics teaching for both Christians and non-Christians. This may involve classes offered at various times of the week. The classes may be of three types each having a distinct purpose: Evangelizing classes, edifying classes, and equipping classes.   The evangelizing classes will rotate between Bible teaching and topical. The Bible teaching classes will either a chronological survey of the entire Bible, from creation to Christ, or studies of a particular Bible book like the Gospel of Mark. The topical classes will be on topics of interest such as “Why I Believe” (apologetics) or “Basic Beliefs” (simple doctrinal studies).   The edifying classes concentrate on helping Christians grow in their faith by teaching lessons on Christian living (salvation/assurance, spiritual disciplines, grace-driven sanctification, etc.) as well as a survey of Bible doctrine. The Bible doctrine class has an apologetic function as it will serve to ground believers in what they believe so they can give an answer to those who ask, discern false teaching, and be stronger in their faith.   The equipping classes consist of topics like biblical peacemaking (conflict resolution), witnessing, biblical counseling, Christian parenting, Christian ethics, biblical manhood and womanhood, etc. These kinds of classes will serve to equip the saints for the work of ministry so that the character of the church itself can be an apologetic as a watching world sees the integrity and love displayed among the members of the church. Along with these various topics, classes specifically on Christian apologetics to help believers do apologetics with the skeptics, cultists, followers of other world religions, or others they know who would not otherwise consider the claims of Christ.   The preaching pastor should also practice apologetic preaching. The average non-Christian, as well as the growing Christian, has questions about the Bible and God that they desire answers to. Options include having the occasional sermon series dealing with apologetic issues, but also host seminars and conferences dealing with things such as evolution, the reliability of the Bible, the person of Christ, etc.   In addition to apologetic preaching and teaching from the pulpit, the leadership in the local church should model worldview thinking and apologetics. A ministry of multiplication would seek to get all the leaders and teachers in the church trained in this area so that they will work to pass it on in their spheres of influence. Apologetics and Christian worldview needs to saturate the church corporately and the lives of individual believes so as to avoid a secular/sacred split in their personal lives, but also to be ready to give a defense for their faith to anyone who asks.   Another option is to conduct informal meetings where people can ask questions they have. These could be held in coffee shops, homes, businesses, or other places. If the believers are excited about their faith and growing they will seek out non-Christians to invite.   Much of the success of these types of ministries will depend on the atmosphere of the church, whether it is vibrant and hungry for the truth of God. So apologetics must go hand-in-hand with intentional discipleship and faithful preaching of the Bible. The relevance of apologetics will be lost on believers who are not maturing in their Christian lives.   Apologetics can be done in a very dull and academic way, but it can also be done in a very exciting and relevant way when presented in a manner that addresses the mind as well as the heart as well-known apologist Ravi Zacharias encourages and models. This requires us to not only be students of Scripture and apologetics, but also of human nature and culture.   We must address people as whole persons (mind, heart, will). We are to engage people, not just ideas or positions. So we show genuine interest and love to individual non-Christians, demonstrating that we value them as they are, not as a project. This approach was at the heart of the success of Francis Schaeffer’s ministry at L’Abri.   One final way to incorporate apologetics into church ministry is with the children and youth. Surveys consistently tell us that the children who grow up in evangelical churches leave the church never to return after they graduate high school and go off to college or university. Part of the reason for this is a lack of biblical evangelism of our youth, but another part of it is a lack of teaching in worldview and apologetics. That is, our youth do not get adequate teaching in what they believe and why. They have not been taught how to think in “totals” as Schaeffer said and they are not been taught that the Christian worldview is intellectually defensible.   With this in mind, I would seek to implement worldview and apologetics teaching into the children’s curriculum in addition to training the teachers and youth workers in these areas. I would personally examine our youth to see if they are learning and embracing the Christian worldview. Too many pastors do not even bother to examine their charge as a shepherd examines the condition of his sheep. It is the responsibility of every pastor to present every man complete in Christ, and that includes our children and youth.   Conclusion   It is of great importance to incorporate worldview and apologetics into the ministry of the church. American culture has seduced our people into a dualism (secular/sacred, fact/value) that prevents them from allowing the Christian worldview to impact every area of their lives. If we do not intentionally teach and model an apologetic life to our people, they will continue to be influenced by the world’s thinking.   I encourage the reader to consider how to integrate apologetics into local church ministry from the pulpit, to the classroom, to the living room. We need to not only shape our people to think Christianly, but also to find ways to equip them in being able to give a defense for their faith.   Such an objective will not be easily accomplished. We must pray for the Lord’s strength and provision of time, ability, and resources to accomplish it. He is worthy of our worship. Let us resolve to spend and be spent that His name may be known and glorified among the nations!

Print Friendly Version