I am often dumbfounded when I hear Christians make the statement that Apologetics is an unnecessary discipline because God can take care of Himself. Of course God can take care of Himself. That is not up for debate. Yet, if apologetics is unnecessary, then why does God command the Christian to engage in Apologetics?
God doesn’t need defending, but people need help making sense of the many competing ideas. We have been commanded to give a reason for the hope we have. It is only the lazy Christian that cannot give reasons for his faith. Evangelism doesn’t happen within a vacuum. It happens amidst many different subcultures. People’s background, experiences, history, education, etc. effects how they relate to the gospel. While we can never be completely prepared, we can do our best to have an understanding of our own beliefs and be able to offer a reasonable explanation of them. —Josh Fults (from the article, God Doesn’t Need Defending)
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Only Lazy Christians? Really? I can’t be the only Christian out there that truly struggles with apologetics.. that has tried to learn how to defend the faith only to find themselves drowning in a sea of information.
Josh wrote, first: “…people need help making sense of the many competing ideas.”
Then he wrote: “It is only the lazy Christian that cannot give reasons for his faith.”
The first is the correct thought; the second, judgmental nonsense. And since the two statements contradict, let’s all absorb the former and forget that he said the latter.
Most people are not well equipped to explain much of the faith in a cogent fashion, and the problem is not a lack of training; it’s a lack of aptitude. Christianity is complex, and self-expression is difficult. Few of us do it well.
We live in a sea of discouragement, aimed at driving us away from God. It’s the apologist’s job to explain to the average Christian, in simple and accessible terms, why, when the entire culture tells them that they’re incredibly stupid to believe Jesus, the entire culture is wrong.
And while “He’s been good to me” is a good reason, it’s not enough, because it’s not all about “me.” It’s about truth. Most of us are not so very narcissistic that we’re content with “It’s right for ME.” We need to know “It’s right, period.” So the apologist has to help the average Christian grasp that it’s not just stupid, broken people who believe Jesus; everybody ought to, because it’s objectively true.