Why Apologetics? Reasons for Defending the Faith

by Norman L. Geisler, Ph.D.

There are several basic reasons for doing apologetics. The first and most basic is that God has commanded it.

God Commands the Use of Reason
This is the most important reason of all: God told us to do apologetics. First Peter 3:15 says, "But in your hearts acknowledge Christ as the holy Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to every one who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (cf. Colossians 4:6).

There is also Jude 3: "Beloved, while making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt it necessary to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith once for all given over to the saints."

Titus 1:9 even makes knowledge of Christian evidences a requirement for church leadership. An elder in the church should be "holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict."

Reason Demands It
Not only does God command it, but reason demands it. It is part of God's image that we have the ability to reason (Genesis 1:27, cf. Colossians 3:10). Indeed, it distinguishes us from "brute beasts" (Jude 10). God calls upon us to use our reason (Isaiah 1:18), to discern truth from error (1 John 4:6) and right from wrong (Hebrews 5:14). A fundamental principle of reason is that we should have sufficient grounds for what we believe. An unjustified belief is just that — unjustified.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." And the unexamined belief is not worth believing. Therefore, it is incumbent upon Christians "to give a reason for their hope." This is part of the great command to love God with all our mind, as well as our heart and soul (Matthew 22:36-37).

The World Needs It
There is a third reason for apologetics — the world needs it. Many people refuse to believe without some evidence, as indeed they should. Since God created us as rational beings, He does not expect us to live irrationally. He wants us to look before we leap. This does not mean there is no room for faith. But God wants us to take a step of faith in the light — in the light of evidence. He does not want us to leap in the dark. 

We should have evidence that something is true before we place our faith in it. For example, no rational person steps into an elevator unless he has some reason to believe it will hold him up. Likewise, no reasonable person gets on an airplane that has a broken wing and smoke coming out the tail end. Belief that is prior to belief in. Evidence and reason are important to establish belief that. Once this is established, one can place his faith in it.

Thus, the rational person will want some evidence that God exists before he places his faith in God. Likewise, rational unbelievers will want evidence for the claim that Jesus is the Son of God before they place their trust in Him.

Results Confirm It
Finally, results confirm the need for apologetics. Many conversions are aided by the use of apologetics in pre-evangelism. Evidence is used by the Holy Spirit to convince them that Christianity is true before they place their faith in its Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This was true in the life of St. Augustine, who reasoned his way out of total skepticism by seeing the self-defeating nature of it.

It was also true of the skeptic Frank Morison who sought to disprove Christianity. His quest ended with his conversion and a book titled Who Moved the Stone? in which the first chapter was titled "The Book That Refused to be Written"!

Likewise, at the turn of the 20th century, the great professor of law at Harvard, Simon Greenleaf, became convinced of the truth of Christianity by applying the rules of legal evidence to the New Testament to see if its testimony would stand up in court. It did, and he reported it in the book titled The Testimony of the Evangelists.

Over the past several decades, I have received numerous letters and calls from skeptics or atheists who have been converted upon reading our book Christian Apologetics or I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.

Many people have been led toward or to Christianity as the result of debates we've had with atheists and skeptics. After debating philosopher Michael Scriven of Berkeley University on "Is Christianity Credible?," the University of Calgary audience voted three to one in favor of Christianity. The campus newspaper report read: "Atheists Fails to Convert Campus Christians"!

After a debate on the rationality of belief in Christianity with the head of the philosophy department at the University of Miami, the Christian student leadership held a follow-up meeting. The atheist professor attended and expressed doubts about his view expressed at the debate. It was reported that some 14 people who had attended the debate made decisions for Christ.
     
Conclusion
Christianity is under attack today and must be defended against attacks from within by cults and from without from skeptics and other religions. But we have a reasonable faith, and the Bible has commanded that we give reasons for it to reasonable people who are seeking an answer. As perhaps the greatest apologist of the 20th century said, "Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered."1

1C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory: and Other Addresses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 50. Back to Top