Quotes About Apologetics

The question is not whether we are apologists, but what kind of apologists we are.

Apologetics has an important place in the local church as we seek to influence our communities for Christ in an increasingly skeptical culture.

Christian apologetics is the application of biblical truth to unbelief.

Scripture is clear that without holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). In wanting to be "relevant" to those who are not in Christ, we may be displaying more of a life "in Adam" than we might think. This bodes ill for the art of persuasion in covenantal apologetics. If Christianity makes little difference in the way we walk and talk on a day-to-day basis, we should not think that there will be any obvious reason for others to want to consider a life in Christ.23

Apologetic explanations do not develop unless there is a reality that has to be explained and defended. Jesus was undeniably a figure of history.

I'm very impressed by the imagery in the 'Apologia', which is a kind of sustained poem. It's not just a piece of apologetics of the sort you find in Jesuit literature: 'Why I came over', and so on. It's a tremendously rewarding book but requires perseverance on the part of the reader.

He labored to help others know what they believe and why they believe it, because, as he would often say, it's not a matter of life and death; it's a matter of eternal life and eternal death.

The idea, popular in Orthodox apologetics, that the Church can have no visible head, because Christ is her invisible head, is theological nonsense. If applied consistently, it should also eliminate the necessity for the visible head of each local church, i.e. , the bishop.

Research shows that Christians are theologically losing the next generation. More than 90 percent of born-again kids today are rejecting the absolute truth their parents embrace. Respected apologist Josh McDowell explains it this way: "You can be the greatest explainer of truth. But if the very heart of your son or daughter does not believe 'my daddy loves me,' they will walk away from your truth."9

There is room for a humble and courageous defence of Christianity. The combination of humility and courage is the combination that Christianity in our day sorely needs.

Cornelius Van Til, under whom Schaeffer studied at Westminster for two years, used Kuyper's notion of the antithesis (i.e., that an absolute antithesis exists in all of life between the believer and unbeliever) to develop his presuppositional apologetics.

Hence while Warfield held that it was the task of apologetics to lay the foundations for theology, Kuyper took the opposite view and regarded theology as the starting point for apologetics.

As William Edgar has pointed out, Schaeffer's favorite method in apologetics (pushing an unbeliever to the extreme of his or her own presuppositions to show how dark the world is without Christ) was "very similar, if not identical" to Van Til's idea of placing yourself on your opponent's ground for the sake of argument.

His principal interest was evangelism, and apologetics was but a means to that end, for Francis Schaeffer was convinced that if the Christian faith is to be effectively communicated, "we must know and understand the thought-forms of our own generation."81

Carnell saw the purpose of Christian apologetics as removing from critics any excuse for not repenting before God. He was convinced that "men who refuse Christ because of presumed 'logical errors' in Christianity are men with a self-righteousness in the area of knowledge.

These attacks are focused on Genesis 1–11, including the Flood and Noah's ark — in state schools, secular media, and secular museums . . . and even in many churches and Christian schools! We need to be prepared for the secular claims so that we can be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us for our Christian faith surrounding the Flood and Noah's ark (e.g., 2 Corinthians 10:4–511; 1 Peter 3:1512

To defend and teach the Bible from the very first verse – the great need for practical and relevant apologetics teaching for all ages To live an authentic, biblically based Christian life as individuals and as a church, so people will see Christ reflected in all that's done. Stop the hypocrisy!

Most of these super-sovereigns feel that God can comment if he wants to, but God must avoid getting loud. While God is welcome to his opinions, he is only one voice, and he doesn't get extra points just for being God. The unstudied opinionated are prone to say, even to God, "Yes, but here's what I think." In such a world, classic apologetics has lost much of its force.

The true martyr/witness testifies in word and deed, life and death. This is the cost of apologetics. Cheap apologetics is the defense of Christian truth without martyrdom.

All Christians should be able to articulate reasons why they believe what they believe - not just for the sake of our spiritually confused friends, but also so that we ourselves will have a deeper and more confident faith.

Just war theory has been converted into a form of apologetics for whatever atrocities your favored state is carrying out.

We must not be satisfied to present Christianity as the most reliable position to hold among the competing options available. Rather, the Christian faith is the only reasonable outlook available to men.

Christianity is reasonable in virtue of the impossibility of the contrary.

By reversing the proper order of things, the non-presuppositional apologist sees submission to God's Word as secondary, rather than primary, sees demonstration as the basis for faith, sees independent argumentation rather than the Holy Spirit as the source of conviction, and therefore advances the destruction of his own defense of the faith.