Reasons to Reason

Defending the Faith Is Good for Christians

Nancy A. Almodovar

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781666706048, 9781666706055
• eBook ISBN: 9781666706062
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Apologetics? What is that? Isn't that for theologians and pastors?These are the rebuttals one might receive when encouraging Christians to learn and engage in apologetics, the defense of the Christian faith. This book isn't about apologetics per se. Instead, it reviews the many benefits for Christians engaging in apologetics and learning about it. Dr. Almodovar reviews what aspects of the field helped strengthen her own faith and brought excitement in bringing the good news of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ as she spoke with those who aren't Christians. Over the past years, Dr. Almodovar has actively engaged in encouraging Christians to actually do apologetics and many have come back to her saying it not only helped them answer the questions of non-believers but strengthened their own faith knowing now the great amount of evidence there is for the Christian religion. If you've never engaged in defending the faith, now is the time to learn how it will benefit you in your walk with Christ and perhaps excite you to dig a little deeper so you too can answer their questions about Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of all our sins.

1

Earnestly Contend

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. . . . But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith . . . (Jude 3 & 20)

One modern scholar, T. R. Glover of Cambridge University declared that the Christians out-thought, out-lived, and out-died the adherents of the non-Christian religions. The primary source of the appeal of Christianity was Jesus—His incarnation, His life, His crucifixion, and His resurrection.1

I remember in one of the very first lectures by Dr. Montgomery at Trinity Theological Seminary via their online courses, that he said Apologetics, in a sense, comes back to us Christians with great benefits. In recalling this advice, I’ve often called it the boomerang effect of Apologetics: It comes back to us with more reasons to believe the Scriptures. As Christians engage in the study of Apologetics we grow in our own faith as we learn about the evidence and eyewitness testimony God has given us in His Word. Dr. Montgomery often spoke of how knowing the facts of the text, understanding that the apostles were eyewitnesses, comprehending the vastness of fulfilled prophecies and their implications to truth, were just some of the benefits Christians gained when contending for the faith. He also said that Christians should be widely read on contemporary issues as well as archaeological and historical matters. With this preparation Christians can compete in the marketplace of ideas with that one historical event that changed the world: The physical death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.

My own pastor, Rev. Craig Kellerman, said to me, “The Christian life is an apologetic.” When Christians are living out their faith, attending the divine service, and being served by God through the Sacraments of Word and the Lord’s Supper, through daily prayer, study, and reading the Scriptures it actually is apologetical. Let me explain.

Apologetics is about giving an answer or a defense of the faith. When we engage in those things listed above it gives our own hearts and minds an answer for the faith. This, then, builds up our faith and equips us to respond to the questions of both inquirers and skeptics. When we respond to the skeptics or the person truly wanting to know what we believe and why, then we are earnestly contending for the faith. For Christians, having the answers to their questions shows that you did not just become a Christian because of your feelings (maybe you started out that way) but there are facts and reasons to believe based upon the eyewitness testimony we have been given in the New Testament.

Reading the Epistle of Jude you get the sense that Jude is talking about defending the faith from attacks within and without the church. Right at the start he reminds Christians that they must contend for the faith once delivered to them. He exhorts them to come against the arguments of those sowing discord in the church and also to those who deny Jesus. The end of his letter is where he encourages them to build up themselves in the faith. One way to do that is to learn to defend the faith against the charges of the unbeliever and skeptic. However, sometimes we must defend the faith from those in the church, as Martin Luther wrote, “who by deceit or sword would wrest the kingdom from Your Son and bring to naught all He has done.”2 Since the days of the Apostles there have been those who would want to sow deceit and discord into the church. Christians who know what they believe and why then have the ability to earnestly contend for the faith and teach the erring believer what is faithful and true to God’s Word.

Apologetics reminds us that the Christian faith is founded on fact and not fiction. It informs us of the testimonial and documentary evidences that God has gifted the church through His written Word and all the archaeological proof of the history contained therein as well. Apologetics shouldn’t been thought to be only for the theologians and pastors but that the everyday believer would contend for the faith. In the end, Jude reminds us to build ourselves up in our most holy faith.

Then we read of St. Peter’s exhortation to have a defense ready for when you are questioned (1 Pet 3). However, this is not directed at the professors or pastors, but to the parishioners in the pew. That’s you and me. We, everyday Christians, must be prepared to answer for our faith.

However, the benefits we receive back by doing that preparation is innumerable. That’s where this book comes in. Do Apologetics scare you? Are you wondering, as I did the first time I heard the term, “What is Apologetics?” Do you wonder why it is so necessary that the Apostles define it and encourage us to be ready? Over and over, when I teach Apologetics or engage in the defense of the faith with the person of either no religion or some newfound “spirituality,” I find that my faith grows . . . even if I get all jumbled trying to answer their questions (Apologetics). It is the benefits of Apologetics that I want to show in this book so that you will see them. God always tells us to do something because it is good for us. Quite simply we can say, Apologetics is good for you! Therefore, since Apologetics is a tool within the toolbox of Evangelism so that we may proclaim Jesus Christ who lived, died, was buried, and rose again for the forgiveness of all our sins, perhaps we should get a little into the what it is so that we can then move on to the why’s of defending the Christian faith. The how-to of Apologetics I have left to what I have written in the books Creedal Apologetics, They Were Eyewitnesses, and Nothing Else Matters. This book is concerned with why Christians everywhere and at all times should be engaged with friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, and others within their social circle answering their questions about the faith.

What is Apologetics?

It is key to understanding the biblical use of this term before understanding how it applies in our Christian life every single day. In 1 Pet 3:15, the Apostle writes: “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. . . .”

The word defense is a Greek word transliterated into English as “apologia”—apologetic. Variations of this meaning are as follows and each places the weight upon evidence or documented testimonials (we call them the Gospels and Acts specifically and generally the New Testament): a verbal defense, a speech given in defense, a well-reasoned statement or argument. We may phrase it this way: It is giving the skeptic and seeker evidence offered in making the case for the truth of Christianity.

Apologetics is simply a tool in your evangelism toolbox. That’s your go-to equipment that helps you to share the Good News that Jesus died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins. Evangelism mostly happens over a period of time where you may be just a link in a long chain until the unbeliever or skeptic comes to true faith in Jesus Christ. On the rare occasion, they may hear and immediately believe, but most of the time it doesn’t happen that quickly. In fact, for the unchurched, they may have heard the Good News before and you were at the end of that long chain.

Mostly you are engaged in Apologetics without even knowing when you share why you believe. Apologetics is not this big scary craft that is left for the professionals. Every Christian, with a little bit of training, lots of prayer, and tons of love for others, can learn to use this tool in its various forms.

Christians, must remember that one of our many vocations is as ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20). We are to make our case for the unbeliever to turn to Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen One. We are to call them to repent and believe. First, this means answering their questions and then giving them the Gospel (Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for the forgiveness of all our sins).

It also means understanding their questions. This entails studying ahead of time various questions they may have so that you can offer adequate and reasonable answers. Second Tim 2:15 instructs us to be approved (Gk. dokimon: genuine after being tested) workers who correctly interpret the Scriptures. It is our responsibility to study the Scriptures and know what they teach.

In our daily vocations we strive to do and be the best we can. The same must be applied to our Christian life. We should be studying the Word of God so that we can answer their questions with the Word of God. Never forget that it is the “Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom 1:16–17). We are not making philosophical arguments. In the Formula of Concord, the writers state that which Luther warned: we are not to use philosophical terms because they will result in a “great potential for needless offense, confusion, and misunderstanding.”3 Therefore, we must bring them the Word of God.

When you go to do a task or a job given to you, if you stood there talking about all the possibilities or theories but never actually did the work, you would not be called back. Therefore, we too, since our Christian life is an apologetic, must do the things necessary to fulfill that vocation too. Whether a mom, dad, office manager, teacher, plumber or cabinet maker, nurse, electrician, or writer, you will have opportunities to answer their questions. Your responsibility is to avail yourself of all the tools the Christian faith offers to help you adequately answer their questions.

Since I’m married to a master cabinet maker I’ve learned over the decades that each tool has its purpose. The same goes with Apologetics. We are wise t...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Earnestly Contend
• Chapter 2: Experience or Evidence?
• Chapter 3: Educated & Equipped
• Chapter 4: Encouraged & Excited
• Chapter 5: Endurance
• Chapter 6: Epilogue
• Bibliography