Why Apologetics?

If you have been following my website since I launched it on June 24 of this year, I hope you can sense that I am passionate about apologetics. As I shared in an earlier devotion apologetics means defense of the Christian faith – and this can be done through history, science, archaeology, ethics, etc., and from the genius of the Word of God itself. It is my sincere prayer that each devotion has deepened your walk with the Lord and strengthened your faith in our glorious sourcebook – the Bible.

While apologetics can be very useful in witnessing to non-Christians, I believe it’s primary strength is to solidify a Christian’s faith in God and His holy Word. Let’s examine first why apologetics is important for us to use as a witnessing tool to the unsaved.

Apologetics, when shared with an open-minded individual can cause them to use their mind to examine powerful evidence to the existence of God and the reliability and truthfulness of the Scriptures. Many nonbelievers and skeptics are not aware of the amazing nature of the Bible and good, cogent arguments can definitely cause them, to at least, think about things that they may never have thought or heard about before. And don’t forget to pray for the person you are sharing apologetic knowledge with, because this combination of apologetics and prayer can be sheer dynamite when used together.

However, when we meet someone who has a closed mind to the Bible, apologetics often won’t do much to change their viewpoint. In these cases, prayer is often our most important weapon, to open an individual’s heart, before our apologetic arguments can shared.  

But I have found in my almost 40-year walk with the Lord, that apologetics can really encourage and strengthen a Christian’s faith in the Lord and His Word in almost every case. There are many Christians, both new and mature in the faith, that are not aware of the apologetic evidence out there. To these Christians I pray that my devotions have opened their eyes to the intellectually sound arguments that exist for our faith in the Bible. As Christians see that the Bible can be defended from so many different disciplines and angles, this new evidence can’t help but make their faith stronger.

Apologetics, thus has a valuable role to play in our sharing with atheists, skeptics, and Christians; both new and mature in the faith. And as I discussed  above, when you combine apologetics with fervent prayer there is no telling what can happen in a person’s life.