Those who oppose apologetics do so because they fear that by teaching people “why” they believe, they will lose sight of the “Who”. This is a rational fear to have, as there are definitely those out there who have lost sight of the reason for doing apologetics in the first place. However, just because there are people misrepresenting the point of apologetics, it doesn’t mean you should throw out the baby with the bathwater. It does not mean you can ignore the hard questions your youth may have and substitute it with worship services and water balloon fights every week because that is easier and less controversial.
Nancy [Pearcey] writes, “There’s nothing wrong with good clean fun. But the force of sheer emotional experience will not equip teens to address the ideas they will encounter when they leave home and face the world on their own. Young people whose faith is mostly emotional are likely to retain it only as long as it is making them happy. As soon as a difficult crisis comes along, it will evaporate.” This is true across the board, not just with youth, but with mom and dad as well. – Sarah Ankenman (President of The International Society of Women in Apologetics, from her blog essay, Apol@&#%!)
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People are afraid of apologetics because if you truly persist and search with an open mind, you will eventually learn that God probably does not exist. That's what happened to me :)
Posted by: Malcolm | 01/15/2013 at 11:41 AM
In the book "The Unexpected Adventure", Lee Strobel relates how a young man in the audience (where Lee was giving a talk) asked a question about Christianity having originated from eastern fertility cults. After Lee gave an explanation of why this can't be so - based on the fact that Christianity started in a Jewish, mono-theistic setting which is far removed from any fertility cults, the young man sat down, saying half to himself, half to Lee : "That was the last barrier between me and Jesus".
Souls like this are being saved thanks to apologetics.
But yes - one can become so preoccupied with apologetics that you loose focus of your relationship with Jesus and living out your religion.
Posted by: Johan Schultz | 01/15/2013 at 01:39 AM