If I can credit any one person to inspiring me to take up apologetics, it would be William Lane Craig. This guy has inspired me and motivated me to study apologetics and to share what I learn with others. While I have learned from several apologists, I have learned considerably from Craig. I am showcasing his recent debate with atheist historian Richard Carrier on "Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?" to my students and college friends this Saturday. In anticipation of this, I post this quote today (I wish I could post the whole introduction - every pastor, youth minister, and church leader needs to read the intro of Craig's book "Hard Questions, Real Answers) to show that it is incredible vital and urgent that churches embrace apologetics across all spectrum (especially youth ministry and college ministry) as soon as possible - i.e. today!
"Indeed, the single most important institution shaping Western society is the university. It is at the university that our future political leaders, our journalists, our lawyers, our teachers, our scientists, our business executives, our artists, will be trained. It is at the university that they will formulate or, more likely, simply absorb the worldview that will shape their lives. And since these are the opinion-makers and leaders who shape our culture, the worldview that they imbibe at the university will be the one that shapes our culture.
Why is this important? Simply because the gospel is never heard in isolation. It is always heard against the background of the cultural milieu in which one lives. A person raised in a cultural milieu in which Christianity is still seen as an intellectually viable option will display an openness to the gospel which a person who is secularized will not display. For the secular person you may as well tell him to believe in fairies or leprechauns as in Jesus Christ! . . . .
It is part of the broader task of Christian scholarship to help create and sustain a cultural milieu in which the gospel can be heard as an intellectually viable option for thinking men and women. Therefore, the Church has a vital stake in raising up Christian scholars who will help us to create a place at the university for Christian ideas. The average Christian does not realize that there is an intellectual war going on in the universities and in professional journals and societies. Christianity is being attacked as irrational or obsolete, and millions of students, our future generation of leaders, have absorbed this viewpoint. This is a war we cannot afford to lose."
William Lane Craig, "Hard Questions, Real Answers", pg 14-15
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