Episode 24E01c – How to Defend your Faith – Apologetics Session 1 (Part 3 of 4)
Transcript from Dr. Kip Wehrman 01/07/2024
So What is Apolo-whatty. Or as I have said in the past Apolo-hewwy. Because this word stinks. Apologetics. I hate this term. It does not mean apology. I really hate these seminary terms and unfortunately Christian theology is full of them. We are going to use it just so you know the terms. But okay what does this term Mean? Apologetics is a reasoned argument or justification. It comes from the Greek word apologia meaning defense. This is the courtroom type of defense. A sound argument. Christian Apologetics is a reasoned argument to justify what we believe.
Apologetics is not only a Christian term. There are Muslim Apologist, Jewish Apologist, Hindu apologist, and though they do like the term Atheist Apologist.
So Christian Apologetics or Defending the Christian faith entails three things; understanding the questions. Your questions and the questions of others. Answers. Learning to provide answers to those questions. We address the concerns we have, and others have with logic, reason and the Bible. and Arguments. We must be prepared to provide reasonable arguments to address the skeptics and criticism. This does not mean arguments like fighting but rather addressing the skeptics and criticism with grace and love, as well as reason and logic. Giving the basis for what we believe and why. And showing people that everything actually points toward Jesus.
Remember. Be prepared. The battle has already begun. It is time to prepare for the fight. God has His bigger, better plan ready for us if we are willing. Oh, by the way we have already won. Are you going to be on the side of Jesus or just a spectator like those in the picture of Memorial Stadium.
Why do we need Apologetics. First. Demand and expectations. There are changing expectations today. The world is changing and the demands on religion are changing. Especially the expectations on Christianity are changing. It has always been changing but sadly the western church is lagging behind in its ability to address these changes. People are more likely to walk away from or reject their faith when doubts go unanswered. People have questions and sadly we (the church) have been really bad at addressing these doubts and questions. The world is giving answers. They are false answers, but the world is still giving them. The world deceives, lies, cheats. We must engage to help people have the information they need to address their doubts.
Why do we need Apologetics? The view of truth is changing. People are more likely to follow a belief based on an emotional assessment rather than a rational assessment. People talk about my truth and your truth. They say truth is relative or truth is subjective to personal opinion. Don’t be deceived God defines truth. There is only one truth, no matter what your opinion is. Truth is 100% objective. That means it has nothing to do with my opinion or your opinion or anyone’s opinion. There are lots of opinions but only one truth. 2+2=4. Not 5, Not 12, not orange or yellow. 2+2=4. Jesus is God. Not a good teacher, Not a miracle worker. Jesus is either who He said he was or He’s not. Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic or God. He’s God because He provided us with evidence to support what He said was true. He is the Truth because whatever He says is true. The basis for truth is God, but that’s for another lecture.
Why do we need to be trained in Christian Apologetics? To be prepared for the Battle that is happening all around us. The very nature of skeptics has changed and continues to change. Skeptics have and are becoming more and more hostile to traditional Christian views. It used to be that we would agree to disagree. Now if you don’t agree with the skeptic, you are ____ and you can fill in the blank with all the names we are called. If you argue for traditional Christian values or morals you are a bigot. They say, “you are being hateful.” If you don’t affirm their views on sex, gender, abortion, or you name the issue, then “You are EVIL!” “You are DANGEROUS.” I’ve heard people refer to Christian values as hate speech. Or even that our thoughts constitute violence toward groups we don’t agree with. Not just spoken words but the thoughts in our head are labeled as “Violent.”
A Christian lady in England was arrested for praying silently across the street from an abortion clinic. She was accused of violence against the people in the clinic across the street. You heard me, on a public street. The other side of the street even. But she was in what they called “a safe zone.” We should ask, Safety from what exactly. Silent prayer is now equivalent to “violence” in England.
A pastor in Canada was arrested for praying in public. Accused of instigating violence with his prayer for peace during a trucker’s protest during COVID. Prayer is now equivalent to violence in Canada. This is happening everywhere Australia even right here is America. In January 2010 two Christians were arrested for street evangelism and singing hymns in Hampton, NH. Think it’s new. There were 500 arrested in Greenville SC for silent prayer outside an abortion clinic in 1993. Or recently, a young Christian man was arrested in Watertown, Wisconsin for sidewalk preaching at a pride event in August of 2023. That was just a couple months ago. Now the pro-abortionist can firebomb prolife offices and the alphabet soup folks can loudly protest government events and Christian gatherings with no response from law enforcement. This is happening regularly in our country and countries around the world. This is the new world we find ourselves in, so we need to get prepared. We are in a battle. Are you ready??
We are not preparing you to take on these guys. These professional atheists like Richards Dawkins, Sam Harris, or Lawrence Klauss. Are prominent public atheist who are on a mission to destroy the Christian religion. We are not preparing to confront celebrities like Brad Pitt, Angelia Jolie, Johnny Depp, or sports stars like Aaron Rogers. All atheists. Now, I’m not saying they don’t need what we are offering. I’m saying these are not the types of people you and I are most likely going to meet and talk with. God is going to put the people He want us to talk with in front of us. But probably not these people.
We should not be wasting our time on folks like this either. You cannot reason with the unreasonable. The bible says don’t throw the pearls to the swine. That is because the pig is just as likely to charge you and hurt you. They don’t care about the value of our argument or even our motives for sharing. Don’t do it. Don’t try to win arguments with these types of people. You can’t, but there are times to engage these people or even the celebrities. It’s when others are watching and listening.
God wants us to be focused on these people. The everyday people God puts in our lives. The masses. The people who are listening. We work with them. We see them at the store. We see them in our churches. They have questions. So, let’s get prepared to help them find reasonable solutions to their doubts and concerns. Answers to their questions. And if you are one of these with unanswered questions, then I hope we will address some of them in this series. But if you have a specific question, you either would like addressed or want some more resources to research yourself. Send me an email to questions@punla.org. If you want it to be confidential, just say so and I’ll keep your name out of the discussions. We all have questions. I have had a lot of them. But God is good. I have not found any meaningful question that God has not answered. Just remember God answers His way, not our way. We have questions because our way has failed, so let’s let the creator of the universe show us His way. I often call this God’s bigger, better plan for everything.
Why do we need this? Why do we need apologetics? Why is it so important? We are losing the culture fast in the western world. A Barna survey says 70-75% of youth leave their faith after High School. We do not teach Christians, especially young Christians how to “cross-examine” the skeptics. They are going to encounter atheists and others who are hostile to our values. We need to get prepared my friends. We need to prepare others and most assuredly we need to prepare our youth. A vast majority of College Professors view Christian students unfavorably. They say and think things like, “You are one of the ignorant bigots”, “You must be stupid”, “I’m going to show you.” College professors are 5 times more likely to be atheist than the general public. Think about that for a moment. We send young impressionable people into a “meat-grinder”. Most atheist professors are very aggressive about their faith. They want to impose their views on everyone and there is no room in their classroom for those with the “God delusion” as the atheist Richard Dawkins so famously said. Most Christians are not equipped to resist the aggressive, or what I consider to be savage, anti-Christian views in our society. Make no mistakes, the culture is trying to cancel us. The battle is right now, right here. Jesus has already won, we know this. But are you going to be on the winning side or are you going to just be a spectator or team supporter?
But wait a minute. I’m sure some of you are saying in an open society, a tolerant society people must be open to our views as well. Do you really believe that is the case? They will hate us, that’s for sure. Jesus warned us in the Bible 2000 years ago. Christians in every century have face similar assaults. We are not an exception to the rule, but we had better get prepared. It’s not the end of the world, it is just the world. Read Foxes book of martyrs, and then tell me we are seeing the end of the world. It’s been much worse than what we are experiencing. So, buckle up buttercup. You have to realize that they hate everybody. Christians have been the focus of this hate for 2000 years. Also, whatever the topic is, there are always going to be those that agree and those that disagree. In our current society, if you disagree people think you need to be eliminated or made extinct. Especially with hot button topics like the alphabet groups, abortion, prayer, Christian morals & ethics. But, for sure we have not experienced this level of violence in the west in the recent past, our lifetimes or so. But as Christians we don’t act that way. We don’t talk that way. And reason, logic, and science are actually on our side, which is what we are going to be learning in the weeks to come. We have reasons, our faith is not a blind faith. We have lots of evidence. We have logic. We can ask questions thoughtfully and uncover the origins of their anger and hate. But we can only be useful in God’s kingdom, if we keep our cool and let the opponents of our faith unravel their own views themselves. We have science. Yes you heard me right, we have the science. Frank Turek says it this way, “Science says nothing. Scientists do.” God created everything that includes all of science. Science points to God, not away from God. No matter how hard scientists try to point us away from God, their own research and data always point to the truth, which is God. And we are going to talk about this a lot. Obviously, I’m a scientist, a former researcher. I did research for NASA in graduate school. and I’m an engineer, a practicing professional engineer in Texas. So, I know the arguments and I’ve seen the flaws in their reasoning and logic.
I mentioned Frank Turek earlier. He is one of my favorite speakers and authors. He wrote a book titled, “Stealing from God”. It is over there on the table. If you are serious about standing strong in our culture, it’s a must read. Another book “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist” written by Norman Geisler. Both are absolutely great books. They are not deep theology or science. What they are is practical application of the facts and very clear explanations of the flaws in the reasoning and logic of the atheist.
Don’t forget if you do have questions you would like discussed email me at questions@punla.org.
This is the end of How to Defend your Faith Session 1: Apologetics (Part 3 of 4)
