Christian Apologetics Questions and Answers

The term ‘Christian apologetics’ doesn’t refer to apologizing (or saying ‘sorry’) for being a Christian. The confusion arises because the English word apology now has a rather different meaning from the Greek word from which it was derived: απολογία (apología). The latter meant defence. The Greek term comes from words meaning ‘out of logic/reason’, so refers to a reasoned defence that would be given in a court of law. The classic example is Plato’s Apology, Socrates’ defence against the charges of atheism and corrupting the youth.

Christian apologetics is the reasoned defence of the Christian faith against objections, but also includes the setting forth of positive grounds for Christianity. It is the duty of all Christians, because:

• The Lord Jesus Christ commanded: ‘Love the Lord your God … with all your mind’ (Matthew 22:37)
• The Apostle Peter commanded Christians: ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have’ (1 Peter 3:15)
• The Apostle Paul said: ‘We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

The articles hyperlinked below cover various topics, and should aid Christians in following the above commands.

Why bother defending the faith?

• What? A Christian mind?
• What good is Christianity?
• Why use apologetics for evangelism? (feedback)
• Caged lions … And the young generation in the church
• I have the Bible—what more do I need?
• Why Johnny Can’t Believe: On the Failure of the Church to Educate (Tekton Apologetics Ministries)
• The ‘Indoctrinator’
• ‘No excuse to disbelieve’ by Lita Cosner (CMI shows questioner that Christian faith is logical).
• Sonia’s Testimony. Creation magazine opened my eyes to the Gospel!A testimony
• ‘Joel Galvin’: Faith shipwrecked by compromising ‘Christian’ colleges; restored by creation ministry
• The importance of Evidence

General apologetics topics

• Loving God with All Your Mind: Logic and Creation (Semi-Technical)
• Creation: ‘Where’s the proof?’
• Presuppositionalism vs evidentialism, and is the human genome simple?
• Evolution and creation, science and religion, facts and bias
• Miracles and science
• The canyon and the panda: This is the world God made … or is it?
• The Wrong Glasses
• Don’t answer—do answer!
• Games that scoffers play
• Missing? or misinterpreted?
• The tyranny of ‘tolerance’
• The Haggard tragedy: ‘Christianity must be wrong because of all the hypocrites in the church!’
• Culture wars: Bacon vs Ham (part 1)
• Culture wars: Ham vs Bacon (part 2)
• Brain chemistry and the fate of the personality after death
• If God can do anything, then can He make a being more powerful than Himself, or a rock too heavy for Him to lift? What does God’s omnipotence really mean?

On what issues should Christians stand firm or hold loosely?

• ‘Hanging Loose’
• Exposing Doctrinal Errors: Heresy Hunting or Biblical Mandate? (originally published by Christian Research Institute)

Is there any Biblical basis for the New Age or Reincarnation?

• The New Age: Four-part series by Elliot Miller, Christian Research Journal:
  1. The New Age movement — what is it?
  2. A ‘New Age’ of Science: An Inquiry into the Influence of Mysticism on Science
  3. The ‘New Age Myth’: An Outline of New Age Ideology
  4. A Critique of New Age Ideology
• Effective Evangelism: Discussing the Bible with New Agers, Elliot Miller, Christian Research Journal:
  1. Part 1
  2. Part 2

• Reincarnation: can it be reconciled with Scripture? (Christian Research Institute)
• Reincarnation vs Creation

How does Christianity differ from the other monotheistic religions, Islam and modern Judaism?

• The Koran vs Genesis (available in Spanish)
• Understanding Judaism: How to share the Gospel with your Jewish friends (Christian Research Journal)

How can we defend absolute truth and morality against post-modernism and moral relativism?

• Politics without Truth (Christian Research Journal)
• Does it matter what people believe? (response to critic)
• John Lennon II? (response to critic)
• See Q&A: Morality and Ethics: Are there such things as moral absolutes?

Why should the Bible be trusted?

• See Q&A: Bible

Does God exist? What is He like? Is one God really three persons?

• See Q&A: God

Is Jesus really God? Did He even exist? Was He really born of a virgin? Did He really rise from the dead? Did He really perform miracles, and are miracles even rational?

• See Q&A: Jesus Christ

Are near death experiences real?

• Near Death Experiences? What should Christians think?

Is there really a hell where the unsaved will be eternally punished?

• Evangelicals and the Annihilation of Hell — Part One, Christian Research Journal
• Evangelicals and the Annihilation of Hell — Part Two, Christian Research Journal

Can someone be a creationist and a scientist? How was a Christian world view responsible for the development of modern science?

• A Christian Creationist view of teaching science
• The Creationist Basis For Modern Science

Quantum mechanics — What is it, and how does it fit with the Bible?

• Creation and Quantum Mechanics (Semi-technical — Institute for Creation Research Impact 305)
• Did the universe begin with a quantum fluctuation?
• Quantum leap of faith (response to Paul Davies)
• Huff and Bluff: Can ‘quantum magic’ save chemical evolution? (response to Paul Davies)
• A new age of quantum madness

See also Countering the Critics, Philosophy