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Do you think apologetics is a dead end? This is a question I think about fairly often. As a form of evangelism I think that it can be. I will never be able to argue someone into faith. I will never be able to argue someone into having a personal relationship with God, which is my truest proof of Him. I can not demonstrate anything to anyone that is going to change them. I might remove a few road blocks or answer some questions, but I can’t change anyone’s heart. That can only come from them (and God).

Don’t get me wrong, I think apologetics is incredibly important and we must defend against the many public attacks against Christianity. But I believe we must continue to remember the value in our evangelical calling as well which comes from having relationships and showing love to all people. Too often I see that cast aside and forgotten with how we treat people that think differently from us both within the church and outside the church.

Thoughts? I’m not trying to set up a false dichotomy I think can just find myself so caught up in the apologetics that I forget the rest and the most important thing I am called to do.

Discussion

15 comments

  1. Dale Johnson says:

    Focus on creation. Many lose faith because science goes against God as creator. Children reach school and are indoctrinated into Darwinism and Big Bang. This indoctrination goes on into adulthood. Soon they will begin trying to merge millions of years into creation. Then Genesis which is the foundation to the rest of the books and our faith begins to be more fairy tales. We must not let pseudoscience creep into Gods account of 6 day creation.

  2. Larry Koester says:

    It’s not necessarily a dead end its more of a prestart point to establish what is clutter in thinking about truth in light of faith. Moderns especially American have some funny ideas about truth. Faith itself is the gift of God that only xmcoms tgrough God’s word. In the end faith itself is the evidence. Hebrews 11:1

  3. Ian Grant Spong says:

    I think that in an age of skepticism, apologetics is an essential skill to develop. I’m so thankful for all the apologists out there. They are doing a wonderful job, each in their own way.

    icr.org
    answersingenesis.org
    reasons.org
    creation.com
    rzim.org
    Etc.

  4. Ralph T. A. Ranger says:

    Well I am currently pursuing a BS in apologetics, and plan on doing my MDiv and Th.M in apologetics. So I don’t think it is a dead end.

    In fact when we look at the history of the church we see the age of apologetics with Quadratus and Origen and others was extremely necessary and influential.

    That is no less valid today. I agree with you. I can’t argue someone to believe in God. If that was the case then works would save and not God’s Grace.

    However. I see apologetics as a ministry to build the house of faith on a rock foundation and not a sandy foundation for the new Christian who by grace was saved.

    It is also an instrument to be used by God. When an apologist debates an atheist they show those on the fense there is a reasonable logic to believing. It fights the lies of the enemy. God can use this.

  5. Charlemagne Alcala says:

    Personally speaking, you can not be an effective witness of the Gospel without apologetics. Some people will ask questions about your faith. You need to be ready to give them the answers.

  6. Yehoshua Marion says:

    We have to only remove the dogma of the Athiestic science claims. This is the purpose of modern apologetics. Once this pervasive idea is removed it opens the mind to the heart where the real issue is. We can’t get to the heart of the matter if the brain is clouded with false ideology.

  7. Dennis Lee says:

    In every discussion, debate, and/ or teachings even if you quote “don’t win them over” you have planted seeds that stay with the critic to the day they die! Great men of God were eventually won through apologetics, including C.L. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Hugh Ross. All these men went on to do great works as apologetics themselves.

  8. Nick Shara says:

    You’ll never be able to argue someone into the faith?? Have you read Acts????

  9. Peter Richichi says:

    I am always taken back when Christians say, “ I can’t argue someone into the faith”. There’s a simple explanation for that. YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF YOUR RELIGION. What hilarious is that every deconversion was the result of the presentation of sound arguments and facts. Go figure.

  10. Joe A Smith says:

    We are commanded to give reason for our faith.
    Apologetics gives Praise to God.
    Preach the Gospel

  11. Melissa Weaver says:

    While I agree we can’t “argue someone into the faith”, there is certainly a place for respectively being able to give a defense for what we believe. Personally, apologetics has enabled me to give MYSELF a defense when the doubts creep in – I have ammunition so to speak to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”. Secondly, I remember before I was a Christian, when I would ask a question I was always dismayed with the answer “you just have to have faith”. Certainly, faith is a gift from God, but few people came alongside me to say “let’s figure this out together because I don’t know the answer”. I think this is also a benefit to apologetics.

  12. Ray Drews says:

    paul maier – in the fullness of time is a good read ?

  13. Eric Winch says:

    Apologetics has a place in the building of faith. There has been many people that have become Christians and gone on to write some great books on the subject because they couldn’t argue with the facts anymore and had to except the truth. J Warner Wallace and Lee Stobel come to mind.

  14. Charlemagne Alcala says:

    Somebody once said…that we should based our faith to where the evidence leads us.

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