Apologetics

Christianity as Truth

Another name for apologetics is Christian evidences. It is so called because it furnishes the evidences that the teachings of Christianity are true. We live in a day when there is little respect for truth and few people tell the truth. Yet truth is important.

How you handle it has consequences. If the weather service says that a tornado is bearing down on your neighborhood, you can either ignore the warning or take action, and your decision could shape your future as either life or death. Consider another example. The Bible says that there is a God. You must decide whether to ignore him or to enter a right relationship with Him, and again these two roads lead to radically different outcomes. Choosing to love and obey Him brings eternal life. Ignoring Him brings eternal death.

Yet there is a risk in examining Christian evidences. Judgment is according to knowledge. If you reject a strong defense of Christianity, the judgment you face will be more severe.

20 Then began he [Jesus] to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Matthew 11:20–24

Therefore, you must ask yourself whether you are ready to hear the case for Christianity. You may not be ready because your mind may be too clouded by your own foolish desires or ways of thinking, both perhaps deriving in large measure from the screen time dominating your waking hours. Christian evidences will not convince you to believe God's Word unless you truly have a seeking heart.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

I beg you, for your own eternal welfare, devote your life not to pleasing yourself by wallowing in crude pleasures and chasing fantasies, but to digging for truth.

Pascal's Wager

Blaise Pascal, the great seventeenth-century scientist and mathematician, wrote a book called Pensées ("Thoughts"), which is regarded as a classic in French literature.¹ It is the first book ever written that presents a full survey of Christian evidences. At the beginning he presents an argument that has come to be known as Pascal's wager. It is an irrefutable demonstration that if human beings were truly rational, they would all view Christian evidences as a subject deserving eager and careful investigation.

Here is the argument. Christianity is either true or not true. If it is not true, whether you accept or reject it makes little difference, because you will soon be dead anyway. If it is true, accepting it leads to eternal life with infinite gain, but rejecting it means eternal destruction with infinite loss. Therefore, in deciding between Christianity and any non-Christian worldview, the former is by far the more rational choice. This conclusion is inescapable even if the probability of Christianity being true is very small, because only a fool would throw away any chance to live forever or take any risk of spending eternity in hell.

No one has ever challenged Pascal's argument, but we need to put it in a right perspective. You cannot become a real Christian just by viewing Christianity as a good bet. You can become a real Christian only by determining in your heart to know God personally, and you can know Him only by faith; that is, not by deciding that He might by some small chance be real, but by deciding that He is real indeed.

What then is the significance of Pascal's wager? It is an argument for exploring Christianity. It tells you that you cannot afford to be wrong in rejecting God and God's Son, Jesus Christ. If you are wrong, look at what you will lose. If God is real and if by faith you believe in Him and in His Son, look at what you will gain.

Jesus clearly presented Himself as God's Son when He walked the roads of Palestine two thousand years ago. Why are so few people in this world interested in considering His claims? That there are few should not surprise us, given what Jesus Himself predicted.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 7:13–14

The word "find" alerts us that to discover the narrow way to life forever requires a diligent search. Jesus was warning us that in this world, there are few who meet the requirement. There are few seekers after truth.

What is the excuse that most people offer to justify offhand dismissal of any witness for Christ? They say that the world's experts and opinion leaders do not believe in Him, so why should they? Yet the unpopularity of Christian faith among the wise of this world is actually an evidence that the Bible is true.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

1 Corinthians 1:25–29

Christianity is unique among religions in its declaration that it will never be the worldview preferred by intellectuals. Why will they scorn it? Because God will not give them the grace they need to overcome their ignorance. The reason is that he resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

James 4:6

Our purpose in calling your attention to Pascal's wager has been to challenge you to continue reading. The wager proves that investigating Christian evidences must be everyone's priority, and it exposes the foolishness of all proud intellectuals who scorn Christianity without even examining the evidences supporting it.

Again, the lesson for you is that you must become a seeker after truth. If you take a seeker's path, God will give you sufficient reason to declare your faith in Christ. In fact, if you open up your eyes to what life has already taught you, you will see that even now you have more than sufficient reason to become Christ's follower. The sooner you make Him your leader, the better, for walking in His steps will remove any doubt that He is real. His existence will become a certainty shaping the whole outlook of your mind and the whole desire of your heart.

Fallacies in the Dominant Philosophies of Modern Man

Yet although the future of every man's soul depends on whether he accepts the truth presented in the Christian gospel, many people today tend to minimize the importance of truth higher than the world of self. If they are educated, they probably adopt one of the fashionable modern philosophies that justify ignoring God and living as you please.

Naturalism. This is the philosophy typical of educated people. They believe that everything in the real world conforms to the laws discovered, or yet to be discovered, by good science. There is no such thing as the supernatural. But their disbelief in the supernatural is merely an assumption, whereas the conclusions reached in this book will proceed from logic and evidence.

Skepticism. Intellectuals with this outlook accept the possibility of truth beyond the reach of human science and scholarship, but they regard all religious creeds and philosophical systems as unconvincing. Why? Two reasons are most prominent in their thinking: (1) because man lacks access to much of the information that he would need as a basis for right conclusions, and (2) because anyone’s religious or philosophical convictions cannot rise above a personal perspective shaped in large measure by his own upbringing and experience as well as by his own imagination and desire. All these influences can foster wrong ideas.

Our reply? A sincere seeker will find abundant undeniable evidence that God exists and that Jesus is God's Son.

Relativism. The cornerstone of this philosophy is the claim that all truth is relative. In other words, it may be one thing for me, another for you. Some adherents see relative truth only in the realm of religion and morality, but others go much further, even to the extent of seeing relative truth in every realm of human thought.

Relativists who believe that religion and morality are empty of absolute truth are like skeptics in their blindness to all the evidence that God is real and Christianity is true.

The more radical relativists—the ones who paint every proposition as relative truth—are champions of pure nonsense. Their deluded worldview rests on two fallacies.

1. It is hopelessly self-contradictory. If all truth is relative, then the truth of this assertion is relative also. In other words, to say that all truth is relative cannot be absolutely true.
2. Nobody really believes in such relativism or lives in a manner consistent with it. A man may say that there is no absolute truth. But what does he do when he picks up a bottle labeled "poison"? Does he say, "Truth is relative, so maybe for me at the present moment, the contents will be harmless." No, he says to himself, "The warning has truth value, so I will leave the contents alone." People espouse radical relativism only when truth doesn’t seem to matter.

Pragmatism. A philosophy closely allied to relativism is pragmatism, which says that whatever works is right. But here is another self-contradictory viewpoint, because it may pronounce the same course of action as both right and wrong. For example, if I steal from you, that works for me if I get away with it, but it doesn't work for you. So, a basic tenet of pragmatism is that right and wrong depend on who you are.

But as with relativism, nobody really believes in pragmatism or lives in a manner consistent with it. Suppose a self-proclaimed pragmatist finds himself in a vicious authoritarian state, such as Communist China, which decides that the only way to curb overpopulation is to kill off older people. If there are no moral absolutes, the policy makes sense, doesn't it? To kill off the older people is certainly right if rightness is whatever works. But if the pragmatist is getting on in years, does he say, "Me first"? Of course not. When they come to take him, he views himself as the victim of unjust oppression. People espouse pragmatism only when it promises to give them an advantage, not when it puts them in the place of victims.

Existentialism. This philosophy, a popular worldview throughout the world of modern intellectuals, is based on an extreme denial of the obvious. It claims that all reality beyond self is marginally or completely unknowable. The only certainty is self- existence. Therefore, self is wise if it shapes its values and goals to assure its own welfare. What is right is whatever serves the interest of self. Basically, self is god.

The nonsense in turning away from knowledge of any reality larger than self becomes evident when adherents of this philosophy try to put it into practice. Instead of gaining good for self, they fall into some form of self-destruction, whether the ruin that follows an addiction or other enslavement to sin, or the loneliness that follows loss of truly loving relationships, or the dark pessimism that inevitably follows when a person ignores everything higher or greater than self.

We see, therefore, that modern philosophies attempting to drain from the gospel all importance and credibility are hollow and foolish. Yet such philosophies are a powerful presence in the academic world, where they leave young people spiritually empty. The young, as well as the more mature, need to grasp that to protect their immortal souls, they must with all diligence examine whether Christianity rests on a foundation of truth.

Doctrines of Christianity

We can start by asking the question, "What is the precise meaning of the term "truth"? Truth is a statement that conforms to reality. To assert that the sun rises in the east is true because in fact the sun rises in the east. "A lion is a big animal" and "2 plus 2 equals 4" are also true statements. There is nothing in reality to contradict them. A false statement is unsupported by reality. For example, "Water runs uphill," or, "Money produces happiness."

Some truth is subject to conditions, whereas absolute truth is true always. For example, to say that nearly all students are enrolled in algebra is true only for ninth graders. It is a conditional truth. Another example is the statement, "Gravity pulls down." For a person on the earth, that’s true only for the earth’s gravity, not for the moon’s. But to say that murder is wrong is certain and without exception. It is therefore absolute truth. Any absolute truth can be accepted without attaching qualifications.

Anything in God's Word falls in this category. Thus, all the doctrines of Christianity are absolute truth. The cardinal doctrines are seven in number.

1. God exists.
2. God is unlimited in His power (omnipotent), knowledge (omniscient), and presence (omnipresence), and He is perfect in both love and righteousness.
3. God is one Being in three persons.
4. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God.
5. Jesus was and is fully man and fully God.
6. Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day.
7. We can gain eternal life by confessing that we are sinners and trusting in Jesus alone for salvation.

How can we know that these doctrines are true? We can know that they are true simply by faith. We can believe them as an exercise of will, and God rewards this step of faith by filling our hearts with the comforting and reassuring presence of His Spirit. Yet we can also reinforce our certainty that these doctrines are true by studying Christian evidences.

The formal defense of Christian faith has been traditionally been known as apologetics. Today, an apology means to say that you're sorry. But this is not the meaning of apologia, the Greek word from which we derive the term "apologetics." The word appears in 1 Peter 3:15, where it is translated "answer." It is a legal term, often used for an attorney's defense against a charge. In Philippians 1:17, it is translated "defense."

Apologetics is the use of reason to satisfy the mind of any seeker after truth that the truth lies in Christianity. Do you need to know all the logic and evidence in support of Christianity before you make a commitment to Christ? Of course not. Is that commitment invalid if you cannot defend it by the use of reason? No.

Purposes of Apologetics

Apologetics is important for two reasons.

     1) It protects and strengthens the faith of a Christian. Although you cannot ever lose your salvation if you are truly saved, you can suffer a great weakening of your faith and fall nearly into unbelief, as I did for some years when I was a young man. Scripture says of Hymenaeus and Alexander that they made shipwreck of their faith.

19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 1:19-20

Paul's expectation that severe chastening would bring them back from their folly shows that they were real Christians who had gone astray.

The devil is less able to overthrow your faith if it is supported by knowledge. Faith is weak or even hollow if it rests on emotion, or wishful thinking, or blind imitation of others. It should rest primarily on personal knowledge of God. This grows when a believer prays or reads God's Word and God responds, perhaps by providing inner comfort, or by furnishing wise counsel on life's choices, or by shedding light on difficult questions, or by reshaping the world to fulfill specific requests. Yet still another foundation of strong faith is an understanding that Christianity is the only reasonable world view.

If you attain this understanding, it will help you be a better Christian. It will guard you in some measure from being wishy-washy and half-hearted about your faith, with one foot in the church and one foot in the world. Instead of fooling around with your faith, you will more likely get serious about serving God.

But even a professing Christian well-instructed in apologetics could someday decide that serving God is for other people. Let me warn you of the consequences. Your basic reason for not serving Him would be that you prefer a life of sin.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19

But as a result of throwing away God's favor and blessing just so you can please your flesh for a mere breath of time, you will suffer terrible trouble.

If you are saved, God will deliver you to Satan for a severe chastening that will leave you pleading for forgiveness and mercy. If you are not saved, your short life will amount to nothing. For the sake of a few fleeting moments of sinful pleasure that becomes ever less satisfying and harder to obtain, you will, in all probability, grieve your loved ones, ruin your marriage, burden your children with unhappiness, make no useful contribution to society, and at last fall into utter loneliness and despair. And after you die, you will, as someone who has received instruction in the Bible and Christian evidences, face a much stricter judgment, because you have sinned against knowledge.

     2) The second reason apologetics is important is that it is a good witnessing tool.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

The Word of God presented in preaching, teaching, or witnessing leads to hearing, which means "comprehension of truth," and hearing in this sense leads to faith. But a hearer of Christian witness can block any beneficial result. He can refuse to hear, and he can refuse to let faith be his response. To dislike and reject truth is man’s innate tendency because by nature he lacks a good heart.

1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Psalm 14:1-3

The fact that there is none good is stated not only in this passage, but also in two others (Ps. 53:1; Rom. 3:11-12) lest we miss this summary of God's verdict on mankind. Yet the Holy Spirit can overcome man's innate aversion to truth and righteousness. To accomplish this miracle, He does not need the help of people like us. He can, if He chooses, set aside human instruments and reveal the truth to someone supernaturally. But He generally gets us involved as preachers, teachers, and witnesses because to serve as His spokesmen is profitable work, hastening our growth as servants of God.

The chief point we wish to draw from Romans 10:17 is that faith arises from hearing truth. Truth produces faith. Therefore, the systematic presentation and defense of truth in apologetics has value in the work of winning the lost.

How much of the truth must someone hear to be saved? A simple recital of the gospel may be sufficient. But some people do not accept the gospel until they have seen convincing evidence that Christianity is true. Many testify that the evidence bringing them to salvation was a dramatic sign that God is real. Often it is a miraculous answer to prayer. When they lost their job, they quickly found an even better one. Or when they were sick with a deadly disease, they recovered. Or when a tornado struck their house, they escaped injury. Many others testify that the evidence bringing them to salvation came from the study of apologetics. In other words, they discovered that God is real from the imprint of His hand on nature and history. Of particular value have been the lectures and writings of creation scientists, showing that evolution has no basis in fact.

Apologetics is especially useful for reaching educated people. As a result of attending public schools that have indoctrinated them in the world view known as secular humanism, they feel that Christianity cannot possibly be true. If they hear a gospel presentation, or receive a tract, or are exposed to any other appeal for religious belief, they reject it automatically, without any thought. Using Christian evidences as a witnessing tool challenges them to begin pondering the basic issues of life. Perhaps for the first time they will pose to themselves the vital question, "Might there really be a God?" Once they start lifting their eyes to higher realities, the Holy Spirit can help them see that their own worldview is flawed and that the Christian worldview makes better sense. Eventually as they move along this track of discovery, they will consider their own standing before God. Then the Holy Spirit will be able to arouse conviction of sin and offer them the divine solution, which is salvation through Christ.

We must add that you cannot convince someone to become a Christian just by presenting him with all the evidences supporting Christianity. After you show a man proof that the Bible is true and you demolish all his objections, he may still spit in your face. Whether a person accepts Christ depends solely on whether the Holy Spirit works in his heart to create a desire for salvation. Even when this desire follows the study of apologetics, the outcome is a work of the Holy Spirit. In brief, salvation is supernatural.

We may go so far as to say that human reason unaided by the Spirit of God never leads anyone to the truth.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1 Corinthians 1:17-21

Indeed, the wisdom of the wise is a great obstacle keeping them away from the truth. From their perspective, the preaching of the cross seems like mere foolishness. Why has God afflicted the wise with blindness to the light of the gospel?

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

James 4:6

The answer—because He resists the proud. So, is it better to be stupid than to be wise?

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

James 1:5

No, we are to seek wisdom, as the Book of Proverbs also advises (Prov. 1:1-7, 20-23). We should not imagine that God puts a premium on ignorance, nor should we imagine that God does not love someone or cannot use someone who is unusually intelligent and learned. But the wisdom we should seek is true wisdom.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

James 3:17

Its distinguishing marks are meekness, peaceableness, honesty, and submission to God.

Mandate for Apologetics

The reasons we have given for studying apologetics carry little weight unless Scripture itself authorizes such a study. The text usually cited as the mandate for apologetics is the following:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

1 Peter 3:15

In fact, however, this text is not urging us to embark on a reasoned defense of Christianity. It is merely encouraging the believer to testify of his Christian faith whenever people of the world notice that he is bearing persecution patiently and with confident hope.

A clearer mandate for apologetics comes from the Great Commission.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:15

What is the gospel? The fullest definition is given by Paul.

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Notice that at its heart are three kinds of evidence affirming that the gospel is true: the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, the historical fact of the Crucifixion, and the historical fact of the Resurrection.

These evidences were prominent in the preaching of the apostles. The centerpiece of the message proclaimed by the early church in Jerusalem was the resurrection of Christ (Acts 4:33). In Paul's missionary outreach, he gave foremost place to the Resurrection whether he was speaking to Jews in a synagogue (Acts 13:33-37) or to cultured gentiles in Athens (Acts 17:31). In addition, when his hearers were Jews who knew the Scriptures, he showed that Jesus was the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy (Acts 13:34-35). And when at Mar's Hill in Athens his hearers were gentiles trained in Greek philosophy, he used what is known in apologetics as a theistic argument (Acts 17:24-29). He showed from the things God created that He must be greater than the gods of polytheism.

Apologetics is essentially just an elaboration of the various kinds of argument that we find in the Book of Acts. Of central importance are the theistic arguments, the fulfillments of Messianic prophecy, and the evidences that Scripture gives us accurate records of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

First Objection to Apologetics

Some Christians object to apologetics on the grounds that we should believe by faith, not because of arguments and so-called proofs. In reply, we acknowledge that faith is essential.

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

How else, except by faith, could we receive the cardinal doctrines of Christianity as absolute truth, for they speak of things unseen—of things that remain unseen however many evidences we consider? How else, except by faith, could we come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who also is unseen?

Faith is so important that without it, there is no possibility of finding God.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

The writer of Hebrews means that if you want answers to the ultimate questions of life—who am I, why am I here, where did I come from, where am I going?—you will not find true and satisfying answers unless at the outset you are willing to accept two propositions:

1. God exists.
2. "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

In other words, you must believe that the God who exists can be found. But notice that He can only be found by those who seek Him diligently.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

Someone who in an idle moment challenges God to reveal Himself, who says, "God, if you really exist, give me now some proof of your existence—let me hear your voice or send lightning to strike the tree over there," will surely find the heavens silent.

The requirement that we seek God diligently creates a huge difficulty.

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Romans 3:10-12

Nobody is a seeker after God. This truth is so important that it is stated three times verbatim: here in Romans 3, also in Psalm 14:1 ff and Psalm 53:1 ff. How then can anyone come to a knowledge of the truth? How then can anyone be saved from the judgment that God has pronounced on mankind?

We find the answer in the text quoted earlier, Ephesians 2:8–9. The meaning of these verses is that we can do nothing whatever to save ourselves. Our good works are of no value in getting us to heaven. We are impotent even to manufacture the faith that God requires, for as we learn in Romans 3 and elsewhere, none of us by nature has enough faith to seek after Him diligently. Yet in the text we quoted from Ephesians 2, Paul says that we can be saved and that we can be saved through faith. Where does this faith come from? The verse goes on to say that faith acceptable to God is one part of the gift of salvation. God overcomes our deficiency of faith by giving us the faith that we need.

The essential role of faith in salvation does not eliminate a role for knowledge based on evidences. The best way to understand the relationship between faith and knowledge is to imagine that you are standing in a deep forest on a dark night, when thick clouds hide the moon and stars. You are lost, without any sense of which direction to go. Yet off in the distance you see a very dim light, a mere pinprick of radiance penetrating the gloom. If you walk toward the light, it becomes slowly brighter. After a while it becomes a distinct spot, then an emitter of beams in all directions. Then you see that the source of this light is the doorway of a house nestled in a far clearing. When at last you reach the house and cross the threshold, the light once so dim that you might have overlooked it becomes so dazzling that it drives away all darkness.

The darkness represents ignorance of the things of God. The light represents knowledge based on logic and evidence. Walking toward the light represents faith. The principle illustrated by this figure is very simple. If in your search for knowledge you step toward the light you already see, God will give you more light until eventually, as you keep walking, your knowledge will be free of any doubt.

Scripture agrees that seeking God is like walking along a path that gets brighter and brighter.

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Proverbs 4:18

The metaphor employed here beautifully pictures not only how we come to know God Himself, but also how we come to know His will. So, it would be good to meditate on this verse when you are uncertain about the direction that God wants you to take. See to it that you are among the "just"—in other words, that you are walking by faith according to His will already revealed to you—and He will make your way clearer day by day.

If any lost person seeks the truth by faith, he will, sooner or later, come to the truth in Jesus.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:6

He will discover that Jesus is the way to God, that the truth about the character and purposes of God lies revealed in Jesus, and that through Jesus he can have life forever.

In summary, moving from darkness to light serves as an analogy to the spiritual life of God's child because faith and knowledge complement each other

1. Knowledge strengthens faith. As a seeker still in darkness sees more light, he walks forward with greater confidence. Of this we could cite many examples. When the disciples saw the risen Christ, did the knowledge that He was alive weaken their faith in God? No, it strengthened their faith, just as the study of Christian evidences will strengthen your faith.
2. Faith leads to knowledge. As a seeker still in darkness moves onward by faith toward the light, the light shines ever brighter. Likewise, if by faith you take steps of obedience to God, He will reward your faith by revealing Himself more fully to you. You can easily put this principle to the test. Just develop a burden for a lost soul. Then implore God for a chance to share the gospel with that person. If you pray sincerely and with faith, God will create the opportunity you desire, perhaps arising from circumstances that could not be mere coincidence. In response to your faith, God will show His supernatural hand, thus confirming that He is real.

In answer to the objection that the study of evidences improperly minimizes faith, let me add one more reply. If we deny the value of evidences, we create the impression that Christianity has only faith to recommend it, and that anyone who looks at evidences will find that his only rational option is to become an atheist. In fact, the atheist also relies upon faith, and his faith is irrational to the point of being absurd. For example, he believes that the vast, intricately structured universe stretching to an unfathomable distance beyond our view arose willy-nilly, by mere chance—that in a moment, all this complex system of matter and energy sprang from nothing.

Second Objection to Apologetics

Some Christians argue that rather than using apologetics to counter intellectual objections to Christianity, we should respond by simply demanding implicit faith in the Bible. "God said it. I believe it. That settles it." A heartfelt affirmation of this kind is certainly not wrong. Indeed, we should never put ourselves in the foolish position of doubting God. It was by doubting and then disobeying God that Eve brought sin into the world. And just as we should not doubt God, neither should we try to argue with Him.

But to call for unquestioning faith in God's Word is a poor defense of Christianity. It is easily swept aside by an objection. The skeptic can say, "Sure, if God appeared and spoke to us, it would only make sense to believe Him, but how do we know that the Bible comes from God?" Indeed, how do we know that the Bible is God's Word? Do we accept it in blind faith, unsupported by any reasons? Christians holding the position known as fideism say, yes. Fideism sounds spiritual, but it is fraught with problems.

1. It is not self-consistent. Upon examining any fideist, we discover that he too has his reasons for believing the Bible. His reasons may be either strong or weak. A weak reason is that his parents believe it or his church believes it. A strong reason, which is often the real foundation for the faith of a fideist, is an experiential knowledge of God, a knowledge resting on His deliverance from sin, His practical guidance, His provision of needs, and His answers to prayer. These are among the evidences recognized as important by apologetics.
2. It limits God. God works in more than one way. He brings some people to salvation through an emotional evangelistic sermon. He brings others through apologetics.
3. It may be proud. What is the man really saying who affirms, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it"? If he is congratulating himself for being more spiritual than anyone who examines the evidences for Biblical religion, he has fallen into pride.
4. It is out of line with God's will. God by no means wishes to deny faith a foundation in evidences, for three reasons:
   1. As we showed earlier, knowledge based on evidences strengthens faith. Because He is a merciful God, He helps us believe. He does not demand that we believe blindly, contrary to the evidences. He does not require intellectual suicide. Rather, because He loves us, He makes faith easy, by giving it a boost with strong evidences in its favor.
   2. One reason He does this is that He wants faith and love to be an expression of the whole man. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matt. 22:37). God wants our love to be enhanced by confidence in our mind that He is real. The alternative would be to love Him despite serious misgivings as to whether love's object even exists. That kind of love could not have much depth or fervency.
   3. We live in a world full of deceptions. Many children are taught by their parents and religious leaders that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, or that the Koran is the Word of God. Many books other than the Bible claim to be divine in origin. Evidences are an important tool for distinguishing between true religion and false religion.

Primary Evidences of Christianity

Studying the evidences for Christianity is direct obedience to a Biblical command.

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

1 John 4:1-3

That is, given what purports to be a revelation from God, we must test whether its source is the Holy Spirit or a false spirit. The mark of authentic revelation is that it tells the truth about Christ. How then do we know that the Bible is the Word of God? First, no other work in the myriad of Christian writings that tell the truth about Christ claims to be divine. Second, among all writings claiming to be divine, the only one telling the truth about Christ is the Bible.

The answer to the last question logically leads us to another question, the most fundamental of all. How can we know that Jesus was really the Christ, the Son of God? We learn His identity by studying Christian evidences. These establish beyond any reasonable doubt that God is real and that Christ is His Son and our Savior. A list of the primary evidences shows the scope of apologetics:

1. There is no reasonable doubt that the universe is the work of a divine Creator. Everything in the vast universe around us could not have sprung out of nothing. The beautiful structures we see everywhere in nature could not have been the product of mere chance.
2. The testimony of conscience leaves no reasonable doubt that we were made by a righteous God.
3. From our experience in the world, we learn that obeying conscience gives happiness. Thus, there is no reasonable doubt that our Creator wants us to be happy, and if He wishes us to be happy, there is no reasonable doubt that He is a God of love.
4. There is no reasonable doubt that Jesus Christ fulfilled the long list of Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. These specify the time of His coming, His name, lineage, and birthplace, as well as many details of His life, ministry, and death, including His death on a cross.
5. There is no reasonable doubt that Jesus was unique in both wisdom and character. None other before or since has equaled His compassion for the most unlovely of men. None other, except under His influence, has taught, "Love your enemies."
6. There is no reasonable doubt that Jesus performed miracles. In historical records left by His enemies, they call Him a sorcerer.
7. There is no reasonable doubt that Jesus rose from the dead. Many of His followers were so convinced of His resurrection that they accepted a martyr's death rather than deny it.
8. There is no reasonable doubt that the church which Jesus founded has fulfilled His prediction that it would grow to be the largest plant in the garden—that is, until it became the dominant world religion.
9. There is no reasonable doubt that Jesus has saved me from my sins and transformed my life, just as He has saved and transformed the lives of countless others.
10. There is no reasonable doubt that Jesus walks with me every day, guides every step, provides every need, and answers every prayer according to His will. I know it as a fact. I could no more doubt it than I could doubt sunshine or rain.

Many of these evidences require us to compare Scripture with facts taken either from history or science. Far from being pointless or improper, such a study is strongly commended by Scripture. Notice what Luke says about those in Berea who carefully examined the claims of Christ.

10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Acts 17:10-11

Luke calls them "noble."

In closing, we will point out that apologetics is unique to Christianity. No other religion appeals to logic and evidence in its own defense. A child going to a Mormon school does not study a defense of Mormonism. A child going to a Muslim school does not study a defense of Islam. Other religions never encourage their adherents to investigate deeply whether they are true. Nor do they ever use any manner of apologetics in their efforts to win converts. The reason is obvious. These false religions do not stand up to scrutiny. They fear being exposed for what they are—a clever system of lies. Therefore, they demand unreasoning faith in their teachings and unquestioning obedience to their teachers.

But Christianity is different. It welcomes examination. Why? Because it offers truth.