Apologists call for confidence amid worldview struggle

EULESS—Christian apologist J.P. Moreland described the secular culture’s bleak outlook on historic Christianity: Not only is Christianity depicted as a religion for the ignorant, it is also viewed as a religion for the immoral.

“If you follow the religion of Jesus you’re not only ignorant, you’re immoral, because Christianity is now being identified as the source of many of the moral problems of Western culture,” Moreland, distinguished professor of philosophy at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology in LaMirada, Calif., said.

Christians are “viewed as unthinking, anti-intellectual bigots because we follow Jesus.” In this environment, then, how can Christians stand confidently in their faith?
Moreland and a lineup of other apologists argued that Christians could indeed defend their faith confidently during the Confident Christianity Conference held at the First Baptist Church of Euless, Nov. 4-5.

The apologetics conference was sponsored by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the SBC’s North American Mission Board, Biola University, and the Confident Christianity ministry.

Despite secular society’s bleak view of Christianity, Moreland insisted that “historic Christianity is still a vibrant worldview in American culture” and that Christians have made progress amid the clash of cultures.

In this clash, Moreland said, “historic Christianity” opposes two worldviews supported by “the major universities, Hollywood and the news media”: “scientific naturalism,” with its claim that only the physical world is real and the only way to gain knowledge of it is through scientific study, and “postmodern relativism,” with its claim that “all truth and reality is completely relative to your view, to your culture.”

“What is at stake today is not the truth of Christianity,” Moreland said. “The fundamental thing at stake today is whether you can actually know that Christianity is true. …

“What needs to happen is that we, who believe and love the Lord Jesus, must recapture the idea that this book, the Bible, and the great creeds of Christianity provide us with knowledge of reality,” and not merely faith or opinion. For this reason, Christians must not only know that they hold certain beliefs, but they must know why they think these beliefs are true.

CHRISTIANITY STANDS ALONE
Craig Hazen, professor of comparative religion and apologetics at Biola, argued that Christianity stands apart from the religions of the world.

“Christianity is testable,” Hazen explained. “You can offer evidence for it. You can offer evidence against it, and it actually means something.”

Considering 1 Corinthians 15, Hazen pointed out that Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection of Christ.

“The apostle Paul hung Christianity by a thread, the thread of the resurrection,” Hazen said. “If somebody comes along and snips that thing, according to the apostle Paul … the whole thing comes crashing down.”

On the other hand, Hazen said, “We can know this to be true objectively. It is not about our feelings. … Christianity is true whether you believe it or not. … We can claim to know that Jesus came back from the dead. The evidence is quite compelling.”

Hazen also encouraged participants at the Confident Christianity Conference to grow continually in their understanding of the Christian faith and apologetics.

“There is a reason a lot of us don’t witness. We all know what it is. We’re afraid people are going to ask us those hard questions,” Hazen said. “You know what, it is not that hard (to prepare for evangelism through the study of apologetics). You attend a couple of conferences like this, listen to some of the CDs, read some of the books, absorb some of the information and let that vocabulary become your vocabulary. It’s not a lifetime study, and suddenly, guess what you get? Confidence.”

RELATIVISM’S FLAWS
Clay Jones, associate professor of apologetics at Biola, recommended a truth “serum”—spelled S-E-R-U-M-M to create an acrostic—that reveals the weaknesses of “moral relativism.”
According to Jones, “two out of three adults and four out of five teenagers say there is no such thing as objective or absolute truth. In fact, only 51 percent of Protestant pastors think that absolute truth exists and is based on the Bible.” As stated in Jones’ acrostic, moral relativism is:

  • Self refuting: Without recognizing any contradiction, relativists argue for at least one objective, absolute truth—namely, that there is no objective or absolute truth.
  • Evil enabling: Since they claim that no objective, absolute truth exists, moral relativists “are incapable of unequivocally condemning even the greatest horrors.”
  • Racist befriending: Similarly, moral relativists cannot condemn the slave trade or the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews as objectively, absolutely wrong. They have no basis for arguing that racism is, in fact, morally evil.
  • Utterly hypocritical: For moral relativists, “the only real value in the world is tolerance.” In fact, according to Jones, “the only thing that moral relativists tolerate is other moral relativists.” For the relativist, claims of objective or absolute truth are intolerable.
  • Morally stagnating: For moral relativists, no standard exists for judging moral improvement: “Is Germany, objectively speaking, morally better because they no longer exterminate Jews? … Is a man better off morally because he no longer beats his wife?” Moral relativists cannot answer these questions without giving up their relativism.
  • Mind closing: Moral relativists can be “intellectually lazy” since, as they argue, no absolute moral truths exist to be discovered and examined.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
Mary Jo Sharp of suburban Houston introduced the greatest challenges that confront working apologists. In 2006, she developed Confident Christianity, a web-based apologetics ministry, and she is a certified apologetics instructor with the North American Mission Board. Sharp called her presentation “Dispatches from the Apologetic Outpost,” drawing the greatest challenges facing Christian apologists from her experience.

Sharp said the first challenge that working apologists must face, is “poor reasoning” in their opponents arguments. Some people, she said, resort to “character assassination” in place of sound arguments. Some wrongly assume that “a question constitutes an actual argument.” Others build arguments based on a faulty understanding of Christianity. Others attack Christianity but refuse to defend their own beliefs.

“Part of our mission, in our current time, is to show people the problems … of poor reasoning,” Sharp said. “While we are arguing the case for Jesus Christ, we are going to have to teach logic along the way: What contests a good argument? You are going to have to teach that while making a case for Jesus Christ.”

Second, Sharp said, “Many people are constructing Christian history, as well as world history, to match their worldview.” A “disinterest or apathy in historical truth” leads to a lack of concern in setting the Bible within its historical context.

Third, Christian apologists face demands for unreasonable evidence to prove Christianity. People should, rather, focus on the vast amounts of available evidence. Finally, Christian apologists face the existence of truly difficult questions.

“There are difficult questions out there,” Sharp said. Instead of trembling at these questions, Christians should “consider them an opportunity to learn” and to minister.
“Many people that come to me are suffering from pain in this world, so they don’t just need a philosophical answer,” Sharp said. “So these opportunities to engage in these questions also provide a great opportunity to minister the gospel and love of Jesus Christ.”

Online Editor
Aaron Earls
Lifeway
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