(image courtesy pinterest)
By Spencer D Gear
A thoughtful person with whom I dialogued on the www and through email said to me: “If you would like to know why I have rejected Christianity, I will be glad to tell you. Here are some [of my] reasons:” You can find his questions HERE [1]. His questions are in bold and indicated as Q. 1, Q. 2, etc. I have answered him under these topics:
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Why the need for apologetics? (this brief article)
Q. 9 And I could never accept the Bible as the inerrant word of God, because I believe that the all-knowing god could, and would, have caused to be written a book that did NOT need endless apologetics!
The discipline of apologetics is needed because of seeking and searching unbelievers like yourself. If we didn’t “suppress the truth by [our] wickedness” (Rom. 1:18), there probably would be little need for an apologetics’ ministry. I thank God for people who ask sincere and deep questions about the Christian faith.. There are answers, good answers, to your questions if you are prepared to examine the evidence impartially. However, here’s the rub: When we “suppress the truth by our wickedness,” we block out God’s message to us
Apologetics helps with clarification and explanation of the Gospel message, the nature of God, the nature of human beings and other questions about life and faith. Peter declared that apologetics will always be the Christian’s responsibility, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer [apologia] to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).
But it is God’s proclamation through Christ that leads to salvation. Please do not put off seeking God. He declares, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isa. 55:6-7).
As long as God leaves the proclamation of the gospel with human beings, apologetics will be a necessary part of evangelism. Would you like to be a robot for whom there is no need for an explanation about anything? Or would you prefer to be a free-will human being? Since the latter is God’s design for humanity, explanations of many things, including the Divine, will always be necessary. Yes, it is a challenge, but apologetics is one of God’s ways of confirming your free will.
Notes
[1] On 5 November 2016 the website to which I linked had blocked my access to the URL. This has happened to all of my links to that website, christianforums.com. I suggest that you copy my questions into your web browser to see the original questions and other content I have written. It’s a sad day when a Christian forum does not want me to link back to its website where I was a regular poster (over 10,000 posts in 11 years) and took some of this interaction for articles on my homepage, ‘Truth Challenge‘.
Copyright © 2009 Spencer D. Gear. This document last updated at Date: 5 November 2016.
