Part Four: Where Apologetics Is Most Useful Today *
I believe there are three areas in popular culture where apologetics can be used most effectively. We’ll consider each one separately in this and the following two blog articles. In this article I’ll begin with evangelism.
The world we live in: why apologetics is needed
In today’s largely secular world, apologetics is often a key ingredient in evangelism because many people are totally ignorant of what Christians believe and practice, and what they think they know is often erroneous. Prior to the 1960s, most Americans had direct contact with the Christian worldview and were familiar with fundamental Christian beliefs. Their parents probably took them to church, at least occasionally. Perhaps they attended Sunday school or vacation Bible school. Certainly, they watched the Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), The Greatest Story Even Told (1965), or other movies popular during that era that narrated biblical stories. Most Americans knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God—even if they didn’t know exactly what that meant. They had heard of Jesus’ resurrection, Adam and Eve, Moses crossing the Red Sea, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the lion’s den. They were familiar with the Ten Commandments and could name a few. They knew that Christmas and Easter celebrated Christian events.
In contrast, today’s generation of people has been reared in a thoroughly secular environment, and many in America’s younger generation don’t even have a rudimentary understanding of Christianity. They have been indoctrinated by secular culture to assume that the Bible is religious myth; to assume that Jesus is no more unique than Mohammad or Buddha; to assume that naturalistic evolution explains the origin of life; and to assume that if God exists He is going to judge people according on how good they are, not according to their relationship with Jesus Christ.
As a result, our culture has largely rejected the Christian worldview. Countless people today no longer view religious truth or judge moral behavior from a traditional Christian perspective. Even people who claim to be Christians, think and behave more according to secular beliefs and values than according to biblical ones. Christianity has all but lost its voice and influence in popular culture. America today is largely “post-Christian” (Christianity is no longer the dominate worldview), relativistic (absolute truths are rejected), and pluralistic (every culture and religion are equally legitimate). Ideological clashes between Christians and non-Christians are no longer carried out in the philosopher’s ivory tower. Secular sentiments and values are widely promulgated through popular culture. In today’s public square—high school and college classrooms, media and entertainment industries, the halls of government—anti-Christian values and ideas are formed and disseminated to “the man on the street.” Today’s non-Christians are frequently hostile to virtually everything Christians stand for, including God’s moral absolutes, and view Christians as intolerant, narrow-minded people who have nothing relevant to say to modern culture.
Where apologetics comes into play
How can Christians respond to this? How do we open the closed minds of many contemporary Americans? How do we reach people hardened to the Gospel? I believe Spirit-empowered apologetics—combined with sharing the love of God—hold the key.
Apologetics has been a key ingredient of evangelism since the beginning of the Christian church. Many church fathers were theologians and apologists. Moreover, the importance of apologetics in evangelism has not diminished with the passing of centuries. This includes our present generation. Christian apologetics is sometimes referred to as pre-evangelism. This is a good description. The goal of apologetics is to identify and remove intellectual obstacles that prevent people from seriously considering the Gospel.
It is important to understand, however, that apologists recognize that salvation is always the work of the Holy Spirit. God is the agent of conviction, convincing, and converting; and apologetics is merely one way in which the Holy Spirit can open people’s hearts and minds to the Gospel. William Lane Craig put it well: “Showing that Christianity is true involves the presentation of sound and persuasive arguments for Christian truth claims. . . . The role of the Holy Spirit is to use our arguments to convince the unbeliever of the truth of Christianity. . . . [The Holy Spirit] can work through rational argumentation, too. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truths and Apologetics, pp. 38, 46)
Apologetics, then, demonstrates that Christianity is true and that we do have something relevant to say to today’s culture. We hold solutions to the problems the secular world has created: spiritual, moral, and social decay. In order to take a stand for Jesus Christ and “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3) in a largely secular culture, all of us must be properly trained in apologetics (1 Peter 3:15).
This is especially important for young Christians entering America’s secular universities, which will be the topic in next week’s blog article. ©
* This blog article is adapted from chapter one of my book The Christian Combat Manual; Helps for Defending Your Faith: A Handbook for Practical Apologetics (AMG Publishers), which can be ordered through most outlets.