Why Believe

Christian Apologetics for a Skeptical Age

Tawa J. Anderson, Heath A. Thomas

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781087724232
• eBook ISBN: 9781087724249
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Why bother with apologetics? 

Our skeptical age often finds the Christian faith unbelievable. For those seeking to defend the faith or strengthen their belief, Why Believe offers a timely resource: an apologetic that is both compelling and winsome. Anderson’s charitable and conversational tone conveys that Christianity is not only reasonable but also fulfilling. Appealing to both believers and unbelievers alike, the book provides accessible explanations of contemporary issues, from arguments for the existence of God and the validity of Christ’s resurrection to common questions about the practice of faith.

 

Part 1

Why Bother

As noted in the introduction, my goal in this book is to suggest that there are good reasons for accepting Christianity as the way, the truth, and the life. But why bother with this kind of a project at all? After all, some people do not care whether Christianity is true; others think it is either impossible and/or unnecessary to present reasons for Christian belief; still others think there is no such thing as “truth” in religion or worldview. So why bother with the task of trying to show that Christianity is true and worth believing?

First, in Chapter 1, I propose that we should all care to learn whether Christianity is true. Furthermore, I argue that we should want Christianity to be true—that is, the nature of Christianity is such that we should deeply desire its truth. What’s more, I think Christians have a responsibility to provide others with reasons to think that Christianity is true. Christian apologetics involves “the rational defense of the Christian worldview as objectively true, rationally compelling and existentially or subjectively engaging.”² Chapter 2 is addressed to fellow Christians: feel free to skip this chapter altogether if you are not in that camp! For my Jesus-following friends, I will unpack our apologetic mandate from biblical commands and examples along with insights from our contemporary context.

A precondition for defending Christianity as “objectively true” is establishing the existence of objective truth. Once upon a time, you could take for granted that virtually everyone you met would acknowledge that truth exists and that we have at least a strong fighting chance of obtaining truth through vigorous effort. In our contemporary culture, that is no longer true (pardon me, that is no longer the case). The concept of truth has fallen on hard times.

So, in Chapter 3, I outline the postmodern flight from truth and provide illustrations of the relativism that increasingly marks Western society. After highlighting some of the implications of relativism, I show why relativism is necessarily false and not worth holding. I close with a discussion of the nature of truth.

Chapter 1. Who Cares? Why We Should Want and Believe Christianity to Be True

Chapter 2. Why Apologeticize? Why Christians Must Provide Reasons for Faith

Chapter 3. Why Truth? The Existence and Nature of Truth

Chapter 1

Who Cares?

Why We Should Want and Believe Christianity to Be True

I think all of us should care to know whether Christianity is true. By all, I mean those who live in the contemporary Western world—roughly encompassing Western Europe, North America, and Australasia. Yes, I think people in other parts of the world should care, too, but we in the West have a particularly vested interest in knowing whether Christianity is true. Why? Because much of our legal, political, economic, scientific, and social structure is built upon the foundation of a Christian worldview. Have we built our society upon secure philosophical foundations? Or have we built social castles in the clouds—appealing structures that do not rest on a solid foundation and therefore are susceptible to sudden collapse or disintegration? Have we built our house upon solid rock or shifting sand? We should care to know.

But many, perhaps most, contemporary Westerners are singularly uninterested in knowing whether Christianity is true—indeed, you may be disinterested yourself! The attitude of general disinterest in such religious questions is known as apatheism.

The Challenge: Apatheism

Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Does God exist? If not, what does his nonexistence mean for us? If yes, can we know God, and what does his existence entail? What is right? What is wrong? How can we live a good (moral) life? How can we live a good (fulfilled, contented) life? What are human beings? Where did we come from? Are we responsible for how we live? Do we have free will? What happens after we die? Why are we so smitten with beauty? Can we know the answers to such questions? Can we know anything at all?

Philosophy, I often argue, is seeking consistent, reasonable answers to the “big questions of life, the universe, and everything.” Central among those big questions of life are existence questions—questions related to the existence (or nonexistence) of God and the implications of religious beliefs for human existence.

Apatheism is a disinclination to care much about religious matters. For an apatheist, the big questions of life are relatively unimportant. It is not necessarily that apatheists actively disbelieve in God; they simply do not care about the questions related to God’s existence or lack thereof.

Apatheism burst into the public intellectual sphere through Jonathan Rauch’s iconic 2003 essay in The Atlantic titled “Let It Be.” In his article, Rauch self-identifies as an apatheist, acknowledging, “I used to call myself an atheist … but the larger truth is that it has been years since I really cared one way or another. I’m … an apatheist.”³ Rauch, it seems to me, speaks for a large segment of the North American population that does not care to think about, discuss, or come to conclusions regarding existence questions.

The obstacle for Christian faith should be obvious. If people do not care about the question to begin with, it is pretty difficult to convince them that this particular answer is true and compelling. Consider an analogy. I do not much care about the identity of the greatest baseball player of all time. Imagine that I am at a dinner party with a few people who are passionately debating the relative merits of Babe Ruth, Roger Clemens, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, and Cy Young. Someone asks me what I think: which of them is the GOAT (greatest of all time)? I would be hard pressed to answer. Why? Because I simply do not care. My friends can debate and discuss until they’re blue in the face; I will probably sit and drink my lemonade with a bemused smirk, wondering at the misplaced passion of these baseball fanatics.

At times, I think this is how Christians are perceived when asking someone in contemporary culture to embrace the truthfulness of Christianity. It’s as if you are being asked, Which is the greatest religion in the world? Don’t you agree that it’s Christianity? Shouldn’t you embrace Christian beliefs and practice as your own? Those questions are heard like I hear the baseball questions, Who is the greatest baseball player of all time? Don’t you agree that it’s Cy Young? Shouldn’t you embrace Young as your favorite too? The short answer is, I simply do not care.

So if I present to an apatheist chapters 4-6 of this book (arguments for the existence of God) and/or chapters 7-9 (arguments for the deity and resurrection of Jesus), the apatheist may sit with a bemused smirk, wondering at the misplaced passion of this religious fanatic. The short answer is, they simply do not care.

And if individuals do not care about the subject or issue being discussed, it will be exceedingly difficult for them to seriously consider the truth claims that others raise.

The apatheistic disinterest in religious questions could be the result of mere laziness, or a conviction that religious beliefs are irrelevant and just cause conflict, or some other cause(s) altogether. Although I am interested in understanding and addressing the causes of apatheism, for my purposes here, it is more necessary to respond to the apatheistic position.

Contra Apatheism: Why We Should Care to Know Whether Christianity Is True

Chances are, if you opened this book in the first place, you already care about the big questions of life. If you do not, you will not likely hang in there for long! But, at the risk of “preaching to the choir,” let me suggest that we should all—Christians and everyday people alike—care to know whether Christianity is true. That is, we should give attention to learning what the claims of Christianity are, understanding why people argue that it is true, and discerning whether its claims are actually true. Why should we care about the truthfulness (or lack thereof) of the Christian faith? I see two broad reasons.

The Essential N...

Table of contents

• Part 1: Why Bother
• Part 2: Why God?
• Part 3: Why Jesus?
• Part 4: What About . . .?
• Conclusion: Why Believe?
• Name and Subject Index
• Scripture Index