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121 Quotes on Why We Need Apologetics
compiled by Greg West
The hemorrhaging of youth from our churches won’t stop until we get intentional about solving the problem. On the university campus, secular college professors are very intentional about indoctrinating your kids. In a candid moment, prominent atheist professor Richard Rorty tells you exactly what college faculty like him plan to do with your kids: ‘...we try to arrange things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic, religious fundamentalists will leave college with views more like our own…we do our best to convince these students of the benefits of secularization....So we are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your fundamentalist religious community of dignity, trying to make your views seem silly rather than discussable..’ Make no mistake, there are plenty Richard Rortys out there, waiting for your kids. So, what are you going to do to prepare them for the serious challenges ahead? —Brett Kunkle (from, Who's Waiting for Your Kids?)
Instead of addressing teens’ questions, most church youth groups focus on fun and food. The goal seems to be to create emotional attachment using loud music, silly skits, slapstick games -- and pizza. 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. A study in Britain found that non-religious parents have a near 100 percent chance of passing on their views to their children, whereas religious parents have only about a 50/50 chance of passing on their views. Clearly, teaching young people to engage critically with secular worldviews is no longer an option. It is a necessary survival skill. —Nancy Pearcey
The only way teens become truly “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks” (1 Pet. 3:15) is by wrestling personally with the questions. Ironically, those who have never grappled with diverse worldviews are actually the most likely to be swept away by them. As G. K. Chesterton wrote, ideas can be dangerous — but they are far more dangerous to the person who has never studied them…we should always couch discussions of Christianity in the language of reasons and evidence. We should be giving apologetics from the pulpit and in the Sunday school classroom. Every course in a Christian school should be an opportunity to show that a biblical perspective does a better job than any secular theory of accounting for the facts in that field, whether psychology, biology, government, or business. Apologetics should be naturally woven in to all our discourse. —Nancy Pearcey (from an Interview with Nancy Pearcey)
When you become a Christian you do not become immune to life. You will have questions, you will have bad days, you will lose hope and you will need answers. Enter apologetics. To outsiders this discipline answers objections, to insiders it builds faith and promotes intellectual inquiry. If you are a Christian and feel guilty about having questions, please don’t. Ask away, build your faith, learn whatever you can. First from Scripture, then from the teachers whom God gifted his church with. If you have lost sight of hope, do not get discouraged. —Glenn Hendrickson (from, Apologetics for Christians: Hope for Believers)
We need to help people be aware of the important issues with which they will need to contend. In the area of apologetics, we must give reasons for why we believe. We see so many believers who have only a superficial understanding of Scripture and have no basis for saying why the Christian faith is true and or why he is not a Hindu or a Muslim. Without that awareness of an objective foundation for belief, they will buy into books like the Da Vinci Code and will be much more vulnerable to the tactics of new religious movements like Mormonism or Jehovah Witnesses. Because they are not biblically or theologically founded they can become more easily confused and rattled when they read a book like Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion. They just have not thought deeply about their own faith; so they become swayed by anti or non-Christian perspectives. —Paul Copan (from, Starting Right Where I Am)
I think increasingly we are going to need to be not only the bearers of the gospel to others but a people who have answers available to questions such as, “What about the problem of evil? and “How do I know God exists?” We will need to give basic answers to these objections. Typically, the same questions come up over and over again. You won’t need to learn lots of new material with each person you talk to. If we have a mastery of some of the basics, we can really go a long way. And, as we’re evangelizing, as we’re talking about our faith, we will have greater confidence in presenting the gospel and won’t be daunted by the potential questions that might come up, but rather will say, “I believe the Christian faith does a better job of answering these sorts of questions.” —Paul Copan (From the interview: Starting Right Where I Am)
If we are going to be wise, spiritual people prepared to meet the crises of our age, we must be a studying, learning community that values the life of the mind. —J.P. Moreland
Before I can call upon Christ as my Savior, I have to understand that I need a savior. I have to understand that I am a sinner. I have to have some understanding of what sin is.I have to understand that God exists. I have to understand that I am estranged from that God, and that I am exposed to that God’s judgment. I don’t reach out for a savior unless I am first convinced that I need a savior. All of that is pre-evangelism. It is involved in the data or the information that a person has to process with his mind before he can either respond to it in faith or reject it in unbelief. —R.C. Sproul(From, Defending Your Faith)
[As a Muslim], I began to try to knock the faith out of people whether they were Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Jews. It didn’t matter to me. But most of the time I was talking to Christians, because they were all around me. And I began to knock the faith out of them or challenge the Bible or challenge their ideas of who God is. And they would have very little response. But there were the occasional, rather annoying Christians who actually did have a response and forced me to think a little bit more heavily! —Abdu Murray (from, Grand Central Question)
When well-meaning brothers or sisters in Christ offer the “that’s too intellectual” challenge, first ask them what it means to be “too intellectual.” For most Christians, any talk of reason or the intellect is too intellectual. Remind them that Jesus commands us to love God with our minds (Matt. 22:37) and that the mind is key to our transformation (Rom. 12:2). Second, point out to them being too intellectual is definitely not the problem for 95% of Christians. Instead, our problem is we have abandoned the intellect altogether. This is clear from the language we use. Finally, warn them that if we don’t change, we will continue to lose 60-70% of our Christian students to the pseudo-intellectuals on their college campus.
—Brett Kunkle (from, Intellectual Faith?)
Some Christians might be put off by the subject of apologetics, saying that Christianity is a matter of faith and not the intellect. Well, yes, it’s a matter of faith in the end, but we Christians are exhorted to love God with all of our minds, to acquire wisdom as described in the book of Proverbs and to always be prepared to give reasons for the faith and hope we have – provided it’s done with gentleness and respect. Contrary to the beliefs of some, faith in Christ is not blind faith and does not require us to suspend our intellectual faculties. —David Limbaugh (from, Why I wrote ‘Jesus on Trial’)
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Many believers have an immature understanding of Christianity. There it is. But we don't need to be afraid to admit it. It isn't actually a bad thing. It is a reality that will exist as long as Christians do. It is only a problem when we ignore it. We also do not need to plug our ears and pretend that a well-developed Christian worldview will just happen if we circle the wagons and just give it enough time. We need to face these facts head on and start being intentional about discipleship, particularly with young people. If we don't, we will continue being surprised by how many people (especially 20 and 30 somethings) have "de-conversion testimonies" that reveal an incredibly immature understanding of Christianity.
—Jason Wisdom (from, Are Christians Afraid to Acknowledge Any Immaturity?)
Our society has abandoned the Christian worldview that participated in its founding, not because science, philosophy, or progress has demonstrated Christianity to be false, but because of the silence of so many. —Ken Mann (from, Christianity in the Public Square)
I fail to understand why church leaders deny the obvious, that under the guise of piety we are failing to teach the next generation to think critically. We build the walls of our churches thicker, put more locks on the door, then send our young out as lambs before wolves, and they are being destroyed before our eyes. I fail to see how our leaders could have missed the clear commands of scripture to put our minds in gear and defend the faith. —Glenn Smith (from, Why Learn Apologetics?)
Christian “Case Making” is not simply an approach to Christian apologetics; it’s an approach to Christian living. Christian “Case Makers” refuse to live unexamined lives; they understand the value of rationality and good philosophy. As a result, Christian “Case Making” raises the bar on thoughtful living. God has created us in his image and given us the capacity to live beyond our natural impulses and desires. He’s given us the ability to dream and reason; the ability to exceed our own natural limits. Let’s use what God has given us to make the case for the Christian Worldview.
—J Warner Wallace (from, Eight Steps to Investigating the Case for Christianity)
While the Church has focused on making church more enjoyable and easier for seekers to transition into…Atheists and other skeptics have become predators of our weak members. They have intentionally sought to weaken and even destroy the faith of Christians. And it is working. While pastors have been avoiding apologetics because of the excuse of not being able to argue people into the kingdom, ill-equipped Christians are being picked off. It does not matter if you enjoy apologetics. You have to decide what you are going to do. You may be able to love people into the church but you can not love doubt away. You need to do more than fill pews, you need to disciple and equip in such a way that your people will not fall at the first skeptical blog post, documentary or book. —Stephen J. Bedard (from, Dear Pastor…)
If we are to help bring our neighbors to saving faith, we must first destroy their false ideas of what Christianity is and is not. That means we must preach the Gospel (2 Cor. 5:21), knock down specious views of the faith and present the truth of what we believe. Apologetics is not just an intellectual exercise for nerds like me or a debate to be won on college campuses but an increasing tool in loving our neighbors. For if they do not understand the faith, they will likely not come to faith and that is what the God we love wants and how we must show love to our neighbors. So, let’s study not just to win arguments but to love others. —Matt Rawlings (from, Apologetics as Loving One’s Neighbor)
I heard it over and over again growing up in my church, and I see other Christians say it all the time today: Just have faith. The predictable context is usually a difficult conversation about Christianity or the nature of God – for example, after a tragedy in the news. Unfortunately, “just have faith” is often the catch-all response Christians use when we can’t answer difficult questions. To be sure, we don’t have all the answers, and we should be honest with our kids about what the Bible does and does not tell us. But, oh, how dangerous it is for kids to believe that the primary answer to most difficult Christian questions is “just have faith.” Those three words, too carelessly tossed about, can leave a permanent impression on your kids that Christianity can’t answer tough questions and that blind faith is the answer.—Natasha Crain (from, 6 Ways You May Be Raising Your Kids with an Oversimplified Faith)
I believe that one of the ways that youth workers can equip teenagers in a meaningful way is to help them understand that faith in Jesus is not a blind faith that goes against all reason but rather a logical response to evidence that supports the existence of the God of the Bible and the fact that Jesus really is who the Bible claims him to be…Teenagers can be very smart, and if you can’t address some of the apologetics topics that often come up in youth ministry, they may think that there are no good responses to common objections to faith in Jesus. You may have barely finished college, and philosophy and apologetics may not be your forté; that’s OK. But it doesn’t give you an excuse to neglect some of the most important questions teenagers in your church and community might be asking. —Benjer McVeigh (from, 5 Apologetics Topics Youth Workers Should Be Able to Address)
With a straight face, a person will say: "Who are you to say what truth is? What is true for you may not be true for me." You can see how such a confused mindset would undermine evangelism. The Bible teaches that Jesus is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" and that there is no way to the Father except through Jesus Christ. Be very careful to note that it doesn't say that this proposition is true for some people and not for others or that it is only true for those who want to believe it. That statement is either absolutely true in reality or not, but its truth does not depend on whether we believe it or we don't believe it. But there can be no question that this kind of fuzzy thinking presents enormous hurdles for the evangelist who is seeking to spread the good news. If he is approaching someone who doesn't even accept the idea of truth, it is obviously going to be more difficult to convince that person of the gravity of the matters under discussion. In short, this type of postmodern thinking has led to intellectual and moral chaos that has undermined our society and our efforts to communicate the Gospel's message. —David Limbaugh (from, Beware of the Perfect Storm)
The truth is that every believer already, whether they realize it or not, does apologetics. The question now becomes, do they want to continue to do it poorly or do they want to do it well? We all get questioned or challenged about our faith, whether it is a direct challenge or an indirect one. We can respond by saying, "I just believe" or "That's just the mystery of God," but when we do we are essentially telling the one challenging and questioning us that their inquiry is not worth our time or our energy. —Rob Lundberg (from, Why Do Christians Need Apologetics?)
Knowing that there is an onslaught of error and lies bombarding our young people every day, it becomes ever more important to clearly proclaim and teach the truth. Churches need to equip members not entertain them. If your students who have grown up in church know more about how to play underground church or “Gun, Man, Gorilla” than they do about Christ or how to answer objections to Christianity, then you have a problem. —Candi Finch (From her essay, Why Should You Care About Katy Perry’s Approach to Religion?)
Numerous worldviews and cultures compete for attention in the marketplace of ideas…we must prepare our church members to be discerning consumers within this marketplace, knowing how to look past the slick marketing and fancy packaging of ideas to see whether the intellectual product itself is God-honoring, true and good. In a pluralistic culture, preaching holiness requires preaching doctrine — both theological and ethical — and apologetics. Our church members will not continue to behave according to biblical standards if their thought lives ignore, misunderstand or willfully repudiate them. We must aim for changing people’s minds. —Dr. George Wood (from, My Greatest Hope and Deepest Concern)
I firmly believe, and I think the Bizarro-testimonies of those who have lost their faith and apostatized bears out, that moral and spiritual lapses are the principal cause for failure to persevere rather than intellectual doubts. But intellectual doubts become a convenient and self-flattering excuse for spiritual failure because we thereby portray ourselves as such intelligent persons rather than as moral and spiritual failures. —William Lane Craig(from, Reasonable Faith)
Ultimately, apologetics points people to our hope, Jesus Himself. That’s why “we demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Objections raised against Jesus must be demolished. But notice something. The Bible doesn’t say we demolish people. Rather we demolish arguments. Belittling others is not our goal. Merely winning arguments is not enough. Instead, we remove obstacles of doubt to Christianity so people can take a serious look at Christ, the only source of hope for this world. True apologetics is hopeful. —Bret Kunkle (From the article, What Is Apologetics: Arguing Evangelism)
The average Christian in the pew is not reading books by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, but their neighbors and coworkers are. I think congregations are putting pressure on churches to equip them better, educate them more and give them opportunities to grow in this area. Churches that have relied in the past on a lifestyle evangelistic approach that lacks intentionality need to be a little more intentional in reaching people and bringing answers to their questions. I’m all for lifestyle evangelism, but I’m also in favor of intentionality, where we seek out opportunities for spiritual conversations and are equipped to explain the gospel and why we believe it. —Lee Strobel
Instead of addressing teens’ questions, most church youth groups focus on fun and food. The goal seems to be to create emotional attachment using loud music, silly skits, slapstick games -- and pizza. 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. A study in Britain found that non-religious parents have a near 100 percent chance of passing on their views to their children, whereas religious parents have only about a 50/50 chance of passing on their views. Clearly, teaching young people to engage critically with secular worldviews is no longer an option. It is a necessary survival skill. —Nancy Pearcey
Apologetics has never been more important than it is now. People throughout our culture, including many of our friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers, are becoming increasingly secular. They're moving farther and farther from Christian teachings and morality. The Bible mandates that we must be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks (1 Pet. 3:15), so this is not an optional activity for Christians or the church. We must confront the errors of our culture and present in their place the truth and gospel of Christ. So I hope Lee [Strobel] is right about it being a "golden age of apologetics" – and there are many signs that he is – but much more needs to be done. —Mark Mittelberg (from, Apologist on Movement to Bring Apologetics Back to Church)
I want to see churches start their own apologetics ministries because it is our scriptural mandate to “always be prepared to give an answer.” Yet there often is very little preparation going on! When challenges to faith come, people struggle to find substantive answers. This may cause some believers to resort to a sort of “believe it anyway” mentality; for others it causes them to abandon the faith altogether. Research by the Barna Group has shown that a majority of young people walk away from the faith around the time they go to college or university. They simply have not been equipped to deal with the secular challenges that come against their faith. —Brian Auten (from, The State of Apologetics w/Lee Strobel)
It's time that the Church recognize that asking good questions and doing some good critical thinking is not antithetical to faith. In fact, I would argue that it is the very basis for faith, properly understood…We must remember that "all truth is God's truth" and we should not shy away from it. If what we have is true, we should not be afraid to think about it, investigate it and question it. If it's true, what do we have to fear? —Daniel Carrington (from, Should Christians be Anti-Intellectual?)
It’s easy to reach those in the Church who are already interested in “apologetics”. That’s no longer my goal. I want to interest the disinterested, challenge those who don’t yet recognize the challenge, and engaged those who feel disengaged. If we hope to change the direction of the Church and grow a movement of thoughtful, intellectually robust Christian ambassadors, we’re going to need to reach those who are disinterested. —J Warner Wallace (from, Reaching Those Who Are Disinterested)
For years, Christians have thought that sensual temptation is the biggest danger for the college-goer, but that is secondary. The biggest problem for the Christian in college is that they are made to feel stupid for believing in Jesus. Church, we must prepare our young people to face the intellectual challenges that the world is bringing upon them. Christianity is for the heart and mind. —Klinton Silvey (from, Should Christians Bother With Apologetics?)
I believe there are some apologetics teaching and books written that give overly simplistic answers to very difficult questions. It’s not enough to quote a verse or two to prove a point. A simple, take-it-or-leave-it, case-closed approach to difficult questions will quickly lose people’s trust. When we teach on difficult or sensitive topics, we need to make sure we are not dismissing challenging questions or understandable perplexity with simplistic, tidy responses. When there are clear answers, we should not shy away from giving them just because they’re difficult teachings. The flip side is that it’s not a weakness to say, “I don’t know for sure”; it actually increases respect. Our primary “apologetic” is love. But we must also be ready to offer reasonable answers to this generation’s most difficult questions, both in our individual contacts with people and in the life and teaching of the church. —Dan Kimball (from, Why We Must Teach Apologetics Unapologetically)
The task of apologetics is to show that the evidence that the New Testament calls people to commit their lives to is compelling evidence and worthy of our full commitment.That often involves a lot of work for the apologist.Sometimes we would rather duck the responsibility of doing our homework, of wrestling with the problems and answering the objections, and simply say to people, “Oh, you just have to take it all in faith.” That’s the ultimate cop-out.That doesn’t honor Christ.We honor Christ by setting forth for people the cogency of the truth claims of Scripture, even as God himself does.We must take the trouble to do our work before the Spirit does his work, because the Spirit does not ask people to put their trust and faith and affection in nonsense or absurdity. —R.C. Sproul (from, Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics)
Arguments are good, and dispute is healthy. They clarify the truth and protect us from error and religious despotism. When the church discourages principled debates and a free flow of ideas, the result is shallow Christianity and a false sense of unity. No one gets any practice learning how to field contrary views in a gracious and productive way. The oneness they share is contrived, not genuine. Worse, they lose the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. Simply put, when arguments are few, error abounds. —Greg Koukl
The most important aspect of Christianity is the truth of knowing the Triune God through the redemption that is initiated by the Father, accomplished by the Son on the cross, and applied by the work of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the “good news” that we can be forgiven of our sins and be reconciled to God through faith. But the life of the mind is an indispensable aspect of the overall Christian life and worldview. In fact, when the life of the mind is ignored or devalued, the fullness of the Christian worldview cannot be fully appreciated. I’m concerned that too many believers think they must choose between being spiritual (or moral) on one hand or intellectual on the other. Yet instead of an either-or situation, it can definitely be both-and. The life of the mind is a critical part of one’s overall devotion to God. —Ken Samples (from, A Conversation on the Life of the Mind)
Biblically, faith is a power or skill to act in accordance with the nature of the kingdom of God, a trust in what we have reason to believe is true. Understood in this way, we see that faith is built on reason. We should have good reasons for thinking that Christianity is true before we dedicate ourselves completely to it. —J.P. Moreland
Every pastor, youth pastor, and every parent is in competition with the Internet and the information it is spreading. Most young people don't get their news from CNN or CBS, they get it from bloggers. There are about 181 million bloggers vying for the attention of your children. The unlimited amount of online information that people have access to has caused an increase in skepticism that will only continue to become more pervasive. If you don't believe me, go around and talk to young people in colleges and in junior high. Go and make 'truth statements' and you'll hear them say, 'How do you know that's true?' There's so much out there. [For] every kid, even Christians, the age of the Internet is wearing down their convictions because they think tomorrow they'll find something else. —Josh McDowell
I believe that the greatest threat to Christianity is the anti-intellectualism that permeates the church. For about a century now, Christians have largely retreated from the intellectual arena and entrenched themselves in a version of Christianity that emphasizes feelings, experience, and pragmatism, and have ignored the life of the mind. We have adopted a view of faith that sees it as opposed to reason. The result has been the marginalization of the church from the larger culture and our inability to be salt and light, and the increasing secularization of our society. - Dr. Steve B. Cowan (from An interview with Dr. Cowan)
Apologetics does not merely free Christians from the anxieties of intellectual doubt. It helps us to praise God when we see that God is at the center of a satisfying world-view. Apologetics helps us to realize that “worldly wisdom” is built on a house of cards. It frees the Christian from the intellectual fashions of a secular world and the pop-morality of soap operas. Apologetics leads hearts and minds back to God and his Word. —Graham Veale (from, Two Myths About Doubt and the Reason for Apologetics)
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)
I was a non-Christian until the age of thirty-five. I was often frustrated by the few Christians I knew on the police department because they weren't able to respond evidentially to my skeptical (and often sarcastic) objections. I thought, "How can these folks who seem to have such high regard for evidence in their professional life, believe something about God for which they have no evidence at all?" I was similar to other atheists I knew at the time. I didn't think there was any good evidence to support the claims of Christianity. The more I learned about the nature of evidence generally, and the more I learned about the evidence for Christianity specifically, the more convinced I became that the claims of the Gospels were true. —J Warner Wallace
Skeptics sometimes portray Christians as both “unreasonable” and “unreasoning”. The Christian culture only exacerbates the problem when it advocates for a definition of “faith” removed from evidence…This view of Christian belief is common among skeptics and believers alike. Critics think Christians accept truth claims without any evidential support and many Christians embrace the claims of Christianity unaware of the strong evidence supporting our worldview. Dawkins is correct when he argues against forming beliefs without evidence. People who accept truth claims without any examination or need for evidence are prone to believing myths and making bad decisions. —J Warner Wallace (from the essay, The Reasonable, Evidential Nature of Christian Faith)
I get the chance now to travel all over the country sharing the case for Christianity. I recognize the difference between student and adult congregations. While the Church seems to be satisfied with undemanding Sunday experiences, young people want so much more: They want answers. They are willing and ready to roll up their sleeves and prepare themselves. They want their own doubts answered and they want to respond to the skeptics in their lives. Sadly, the Church doesn’t seem to recognize this yet, and it definitely seems ill-equipped to meet the challenge…It’s time for the Church to raise up a generation of young people who are equipped with a Biblical worldview and can articulate this worldview with strength and conviction. —J Warner Wallace (from the essay, Students Love Answers More Than the Church Loves Answers)
You’d be amazed at the impact you can have, even without leading a non-profit ministry, working at a church or becoming a well-known public figure. God uses each of us on the basis of our individual life experiences. There are people out there who need to hear your voice. You can reach them better than anyone else, including the people you think of as “million dollar apologists”… You can have incredible impact on your world as a [Christian] Case Maker, even as you work and raise your families. Bloom where you are planted and continue to be an eager learner. Together, a million one dollar apologists can change the course of history. —J Warner Wallace (from the essay, How to Be a "One Dollar Apologist")
As parents, we are the folks who will have the most repeated contact with our children; we are the ones who can have the most impact (good or bad). This is the simple truth for all of us who are raising kids in the church. We have to become the best Christian Case Makers our kids know so we can respond quickly to their concerns and questions. As parents, we are still the first line of Christian defense.—J Warner Wallace (from the essay, Parents Are Still the First Line of Defense)
Recent scholarship has provided the Church with an embarrassment of riches, yet this rarely makes its way into pulpits, Sunday Schools or youth ministries. Above all, we need more biblical theology and then a greater engagement with the great theologians of the past. Only then can the wisdom of Scripture challenge the emptiness of the World. We also need to realise that we live in an age of pathological cynicism; our young people cannot stand (never mind advance) unless they can give tough answers to tough questions.—David Glass and Graham Veale (from the article, McAtheism and the McChurch )
Christ never meant that we were to remain children in intelligence: on the contrary. He told us to be not only ‘as harmless as doves’, but also ‘as wise as serpents’. He wants a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s head. He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate, and teachable, as good children are; but He also wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim. The fact that you are giving money to a charity does not mean that you need not try to find out whether that charity is a fraud or not. The fact that what you are thinking about is God Himself (for example, when you are praying) does not mean that you can be content with the same babyish ideas which you had when you were a five-year-old. It is, of course, quite true that God will not love you any the less, or have less use for you, if you happen to have been born with a very second-rate brain. He has room for people with very little sense, but He wants every one to use what sense they have. —C.S. Lewis
There is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting you don't know something or that you're currently inadequately equipped to think a topic through. What is unacceptable, however, is running from this fact and thereby giving up on intellectual and spiritual growth in the interest of avoiding embarrassment or possible rejection. We all need help in this area, and we should care enough about truth and reason to give that help. Even if we agree with one another's conclusions, we need to dedicate ourselves for Christ's sake to refusing to allow each other to reach those conclusions with poor argumentation and sloppy treatment of data. —J. P. Moreland (from, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul)
The problem with many people is that they seem to love God only with their hearts. The truth about Christ never gets to their minds. We’ve been given minds enabled by the Holy Spirit to know God, as well as hearts to love him and wills to choose him. We need to function in all three areas to have a full relationship with God and to glorify him. I don’t know how it is with you, but my heart can’t rejoice in what my mind has rejected. My heart and mind were created to work in harmony together. Never has anyone been called on to commit intellectual suicide by trusting Christ as Savior and Lord. —Josh McDowell
If someone doesn’t think they need apologetics, one has to wonder if they have tried evangelizing lately. —Bobby Conway
Although I came to faith at an early age, I nearly lost my faith due to doubt in my mid-20s. However, I too had a grand transformation when I was influenced by the evidence presented by those who also had grand transformations such as Strobel, McDowell, Craig, Habermas, and others. These individuals were open to the truth wherever it led. The truth in fact led them to the throne of God. —Brian Chilton (from the essay, Could the Church of the Future Be Constituted by the Atheists of Today?)
People do not like to feel stupid. If you go out and share your faith with non-believers and they ask you how you can trust the Bible or who was Cain's wife or tell you that the Bible condones slavery, polygamy, genocide, etc., how many more times do you think you're going to open your mouth about Jesus? For most people, probably not very often. If, on the other hand, you have the proper training to handle and respond to these questions "with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15b), you will have effectively removed this hurdle so that you can more freely share your faith and talk to people about the Gospel. This by no means diminishes or devalues the role of the Holy Spirit, but merely presents yourself and your training as yet another means by which the Holy Spirit can draw people to Himself. —Daniel Carrington (from the article, Should Christians Use Evidence and Logic to Proclaim the Gospel?)
There is a global resurgence of secularism in both Eastern and Western cultures. Atheists are are actively spreading their worldview like never before. They organize conferences, fund bus advertising campaigns, record podcasts, participate in debates, and write best-selling books to spread their ‘gospel’. Christians must respond in turn, but we must also reach out personally to build relationships and engage in conversation. Now is not the time to retreat, but to connect. Sure, some are hostile to Christianity, but many are not. If we each lovingly reach out to skeptical groups, we might be amazed at how many are receptive to the gospel. —Sean McDowell
The Internet has changed everything. Kids today are exposed to more worldviews in a week than their parents were throughout their entire adolescent years! Many kids also have friends who are Muslims, Wiccans, atheists, Mormons, and so on. One major study of youth revealed that 48% of evangelical youth believe Jesus is only one way to God. I’ve found it important to clarify the nature of truth so students realize that religions make objective claims to truth, not simply subjective claims. Students also need to realize that truth is exclusive by nature and that all worldviews are exclusivistic. And finally, Jesus uniquely claimed to be God and offered evidence to back it up (John 20:30-31). —Sean McDowell
I love opportunities to question, think and learn. I have spent most of my life in church, but by my midlife I realized so much I heard from pulpits was subjective, and one or two verse sermons that did not seem in context. I read the Old Testament, but I knew something was missing because I did not have a cohesive knowledge and understanding. People quote scriptures all the time to apply to their circumstances that taken in context have meaning to a certain people at a certain time in their history…That is where an acquaintance who himself was hungry began in depth study and has taught faithfully Bible History and Jewish culture that opened my eyes to a fuller understanding of the cohesive nature and purpose of His Story. That knowledge is life and the foundation that sustains me when life does not make sense…I want an honest thinking faith and in a lot of evangelical circles that is not the norm. We have to be willing to hear one another even when we disagree and weigh prayerfully what is true…I think we become a private club where we all have to say the same thing and think the same. Most people like that because then they feel they have pleased God and that often leads to an unstable foundation because they have little knowledge of Him and his purpose. —Shirley Riley (comment on our Facebook page used by permission)
The Bible says we should “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Can you help someone work through the “Why does God allow suffering?” question? Can you help a university student see that science has not, will not and cannot disprove God? Do you know why it is logically impossible that all religions could lead to God? We need to be ready to answer these because the Bible commands us to do so. As Christians we have a tremendous heritage we have inherited from those who have taken 1 Peter 3:15 seriously. —Jon Morrison (from, 5 Reasons To Rethink Apologetics)
Since we as Christians are called and commanded to have a reason for the hope within them (1 Peter 3:15), it is the responsibility Christian teachers, pastors, mentors and educators of all kinds are remiss if they avoid, denigrate, or minimize the importance of apologetics to biblical living and Christian witness. —Douglass Grouthuis
Any and every other belief you hold, about anything whatsoever, if it is to be taken seriously, if it is to be of any value or worth anyone’s consideration, it must have in its favor more than your emotions, personal history or external circumstantial factors. It must have reasons.
—Clint Roberts (from the article, Believing for No Reason)
I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith. They feel no obligation to understand what they believe. They may even wish not to have their beliefs disturbed by thought. But if God in whom they believe created them with intellectual and rational powers, that imposes upon them the duty to try to understand the creed of their religion. Not to do so is to verge on superstition.
—Mortimer J. Adler
Here is the sum of the matter: We must earnestly endeavor to know the truth of the biblical worldview and to make it known with integrity to as many people as possible with the best arguments available. To know God in Christ means that we desire to make Christian truth available to others in the most compelling form possible. To be created in God’s rational, moral and relational image means that our entire being should be aimed at the glorification of God in Christian witness. A significant part of that witness is Christian apologetics. —Douglas Groothuis
To be effective in equipping young people and professionals to face the challenges of a highly educated secular society, the church needs to redefine the mission of pastors and youth leaders to include training in apologetics and worldview.…Pastors must once again provide intellectual leadership for their congregations, teaching apologetics from the pulpit. Every time a minister introduces a biblical teaching, he should also instruct the congregation in ways to defend it against the major objections they are likely to encounter. A religion that avoids the intellectual task and retreats to the therapeutic realm of personal relationships and feelings will not survive in today’s spiritual battlefield. —Nancy Pearcey
Jesus argued with the Pharisees all the time. Even His enemies reported that "no man speaks as this man speaks." If Jesus merely relied on the power of God and the particulars of His speech were inconsequential, if His mind and intellect and cleverness didn't enter into it, then why don't we behold unimpressive, muddled, uncompelling words in His discourses? No, it was quite the opposite. When we look further in the New Testament we see heated and intense disputation-- polemic, argumentation--at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. We see Paul going after Peter hammer and tongs in Galatians 2:11. You can immediately see the problem with any interpretation of a verse to the effect that one must not use reason and rationality in the proclamation of the Gospel. Such a person runs smack into an army of counterexamples from the Scripture itself. —Greg Koukl
The deficiencies of some (and, in the final analysis, all) apologists should not, however, cause us to object to apologetics in principle any more than the deficiencies of some evangelists