While apologetics can’t save a person I believe it can play an important role in planting seeds in a person’s mind to help them see why Christianity is a rational faith. As I have shared in several past devotions apologetics is mainly for the Christian but for many skeptics it can provide solid answers to many of their doubts and questions about the Christian faith. While sharing the Word and prayer are essential to bringing a person to salvation, apologetics can provide answers to some of the difficult questions that a person might have that is causing them to still doubt.
For example, many non-believers think science is in conflict with the Scriptures. Sharing that many of the greatest scientists of all time were strong Bible believing Christians who saw no conflict with their scientific fields and the Bible can cause a person to reconsider the faulty notion that you can’t be a Christian and a scientist. Other skeptics say how can we trust a 2,000 year old book – it must have been changed considerably as it was copied and recopied down through the centuries. My devotion on the Dead Sea Scrolls (March 22, 2021) clearly shows that this is false and that we can have great confidence that the Bible hasn’t undergone any significant changes since it was originally penned. Many non-Christians also say that the Bible is full of historical errors. As I have shown in several past devotions the study of archaeology has clearly shown that this is totally false and that the Bible is a first-rate book of history.
While prayer can touch a person’s heart, apologetics can plant seeds in a person’s mind. Many a skeptic has come to the Lord through examining the evidence for Christianity. While Satan is always there to plant seeds of doubt in a person’s mind, apologetics can often remove these doubts allowing an individual to realize that the Bible is indeed divine truth and that Jesus is God.
As I stated at the beginning of this devotion, apologetics alone can’t save an individual but the combination of sharing the Word, believing prayer and apologetics can together open a closed heart to the message of the gospel.
In tomorrow’s devotion I would like to add one more element that God can use to help bring about the conversion of a lost soul and that is love!
I believe we are saved by God’s Grace alone, Ephesians 2:1-10) through faith, which comes from reading the Scriptures, and Apologetics help us to understand God’s Word.