The other day I wrote on apologetics as a discipline and apologetics as a form of evangelism. If you didn't read that post, you can read it here. Today, I want to expound upon apologetics as a form of evangelism. Since I used the football analogy last time, I will use it here again.
If you watch football (and shame on you if you don't), you know that there are two parties involved in the game - the teams. At any given time, one team is on offense, and the other is on defense. Both teams cannot be on offense at the same time or defense at the same time. When it comes to apologetics in evangelism, there is usually two parties involved: yourself and the person/group of people you are talking to. If you are talking to a person, hopefully you are being gracious and having a conversation about God and salvation through Jesus Christ and not preaching in a monologue to them. If you are speaking to a group of people (i.e. giving a Gospel presentation at an event or something), then you have greater control whether you play offense or defense when it comes to apologetics. But what exactly do I mean when I say "offensive" or "defensive" apologetics? Let's look at defensive apologetics first.
If you watch football (and shame on you if you don't), you know that there are two parties involved in the game - the teams. At any given time, one team is on offense, and the other is on defense. Both teams cannot be on offense at the same time or defense at the same time. When it comes to apologetics in evangelism, there is usually two parties involved: yourself and the person/group of people you are talking to. If you are talking to a person, hopefully you are being gracious and having a conversation about God and salvation through Jesus Christ and not preaching in a monologue to them. If you are speaking to a group of people (i.e. giving a Gospel presentation at an event or something), then you have greater control whether you play offense or defense when it comes to apologetics. But what exactly do I mean when I say "offensive" or "defensive" apologetics? Let's look at defensive apologetics first.
Defensive Apologetics
In football, the defense prevents the other team from advancing the football to the endzone (or close enough for a field goal) to earn points and win the game. When it comes to defensive apologetics, sometimes someone will raise an objection to Christianity to which, depending on the objection, can call Christianity on the carpet as whether or not it is true or not. Defensive apologetics invalidates those potential defeaters, or to put it another way, defensive apologetics shuts down objections to Christianity being false. The goal of defensive apologetics is to make sure that Christianity cannot be rightly condemned as being untrue - it isn't to explain why Christianity is true (per se - I will explain that in a bit), but rather explain why Christianity cannot be claimed as false on the basis of the objections given.
Offensive Apologetics
Offensive Apologetics
It would be important for me to point out that when I use the words "offensive" and "defensive", I am not referring to your attitude. 1 Peter 3:16 gives the ethic for how we are to conduct our apologetic efforts: "However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscious clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame". It is guaranteed that people will reject Christianity. However, if the person you are conversing with rejects Christianity, it had better be because of the beliefs of Christianity and not because you presented those beliefs with an unchristian attitude.
Offensive apologetics, contrary to defensive apologetics, are given to establish Christianity is true. I can think of at least 5 such offensive arguments for the existence of God (not necessarily Christianity): the Cosmological argument family, the Teleological argument family, the Moral argument, the Ontological argument, and the Argument from Reason, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite arguments against naturalism and materialism. Those arguments are positive arguments that establish the existence of a theistic God - however, they do not necessarily prove that Christianity is true. When it comes to establishing Christianity is true, like I wrote in a post on Easter Sunday, giving evidences establishing the historicity of the Resurrection, along with the reliability of the Gospels, help establish Christianity specifically as being true. Of course, for the Christian, the icing on all this cake is talking of the transformation of his/her life as a result of putting their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Your personal testimony is equally powerful as any argument - yet if your personal testimony is marred by your conduct, you are crippling your efforts. Your life, in it's entirety, should reflect the work Christ has done in your life, and if it doesn't, congratulations on shooting yourself in the foot.
Fumbles and Interceptions
Fumbles and interceptions, in football games, are always a highlight. They are unexpected, they are the last thing the offense wants, and in a single instant the roles of the two teams switch - the defense becomes the offense, and the offense goes on the defense. The losing team could have just turned the game around to possible win or solidify their loss. A good apologist will create as many fumbles as interceptions as possible - taking an objection to Christianity (defense) and turning it around into a positive case for Christianity (offense). Skilled apologists will look for these opportunities, and just like I talked about in the first post of this series, it required a lot of training and practice with apologetics as a discipline. If you do not train and practice for interceptions, it will hardly happen. Offensive apologetics, contrary to defensive apologetics, are given to establish Christianity is true. I can think of at least 5 such offensive arguments for the existence of God (not necessarily Christianity): the Cosmological argument family, the Teleological argument family, the Moral argument, the Ontological argument, and the Argument from Reason, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite arguments against naturalism and materialism. Those arguments are positive arguments that establish the existence of a theistic God - however, they do not necessarily prove that Christianity is true. When it comes to establishing Christianity is true, like I wrote in a post on Easter Sunday, giving evidences establishing the historicity of the Resurrection, along with the reliability of the Gospels, help establish Christianity specifically as being true. Of course, for the Christian, the icing on all this cake is talking of the transformation of his/her life as a result of putting their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Your personal testimony is equally powerful as any argument - yet if your personal testimony is marred by your conduct, you are crippling your efforts. Your life, in it's entirety, should reflect the work Christ has done in your life, and if it doesn't, congratulations on shooting yourself in the foot.
Fumbles and Interceptions
I taught my last lesson for First Baptist Youth this past Wednesday, and I couldn't have asked for a better last lesson - it was on apologetics and learning more about your faith. I left my students with a small list of "getting started" resources so that they can begin learning more about their faith (apologetics as a discipline) so that they can use it when sharing their faith and dealing with doubt (offensive and defensive apologetics as a form of evangelism). Underlying this whole thing, however, is a desire to fulfill what Jesus listed as the greatest commandment of the Law: to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). If you do not have a desire to love the Lord your God, then you should not consider any of what I have said until you have that desire to love God - your relationship with God is the most foundational piece of information that is assumed in this entire discussion. If you lack this, then everything I've talked about becomes secondary - learn to love God first.
Since tomorrow is the end of the world (according to Harold Camping), I figured I would write a post on all this May 21st hullabaloo. Don't worry - if the world doesn't end tomorrow, it isn't because this guy predicted it would be. Trust me on that one.
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