Getting a grip on apologetics
Considering whether one ultimate God exists
Seeing how Christianity coexists with “real life”
Digging up the historical roots of the Christian faith
I’m a PK (a preacher’s kid). Growing up, I learned about the
Christian faith from my parents and church, and I became a born-again Christian
at an early age. The question of whether Christianity was valid didn’t enter
into my mind at that point; I just accepted it as true because that’s what I
was taught. When I entered college, however, I started to re-evaluate my faith
and ask myself, “Is Christianity really true?” After all, an awful lot of smart
people don’t believe in God, much less in Christianity.
Today, as I look back at that time in my life, I realize
that the honest questioning I did as a college freshman was the crucial turning
point of my life, transforming my squishy lump of unformed beliefs into a solid
steel-equipped faith, ready for a lot of stormy weather. When I actually
started to look under the hood of Christianity and ask hard questions, I
realized that Christianity not only satisfies my spiritual and emotional needs,
but also my intellectual needs.
In this chapter, I survey several important claims to truth
that Christianity makes and help demonstrate the idea that what the rest of
this book covers is more than just fancy or wishful thinking. I explain how Christians
respond to questions about the existence of God, the relationship between faith
and reason, and the historical reliability of Christianity’s claims.
Throughout this book, I address further topics that deal
with Christianity’s claims of truth. Be sure to check out the following:
For a discussion on the belief that Jesus rose from the
dead, see Chapter 5.
To explore why Christianity claims to present the only way
to God, see Chapter 15.
To assess whether Christian faith and Darwinian evolution
are compatible, see Chapter 16.
For an exploration of whether absolutes are necessary in a
relative world, see Chapter 16.
Defending the Faith through Apologetics
The term Christian apologetics may sound like a description
of a very sorry and pathetic-looking group of churchgoers, but it actually
refers to the study and practice of demonstrating the truth of Christianity. In
this context, the word apologetic isn’t sorry at all, but originates from the
Greek word apologia, which means “defence.”
Like any religion or belief explaining the world, not everything
that’s part of Christianity can be proven – it requires faith to believe in the
unseen. But don’t take that to mean that you should simply throw evidence out
the window. On the contrary, although facts and logic don’t explain everything,
Christians believe they work hand-in-hand to support the faith’s claims to
truth. That’s why Christians work across a spectrum of fields – science,
archaeology, philosophy, history, and more – to provide a solid intellectual basis
for the Christian faith.
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