Posts tagged Salvation

The first iteration of this site began primarily as a foray into apologetics. As I became more and more passionate about my faith, I found myself wanting to express an intelligent faith. I had always found apologetics interesting. My first taste of defending the faith, ironically, came from a book that in and of itself was not an apologetic. At least, that was not its primary aim. The book was Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. The way in which C.S. Lewis explained Christianity opened my eyes to an aspect of Christianity that I did not know previously. And yet, ironically, I had read Mere Christianity two times before I was even a Christian. It was a powerful book, but it was not (at least for me) something that led me to salvation. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I still have an interest in apologetics, but I wonder if it is useful? Does it edify the body, or is it a system founded primarily on a secular foundation of thought? I would like to evaluate these questions in this post.

First and foremost, we need to understand what the practice of apologetics actually aims to do. At its most basic form, an apologetic is simply a defense of the Christian faith. It aims to defend the claim of truth by Christianity. So, in that sense, it would be strange and difficult for me to claim that apologetics are not useful. However, as with all thought systems, apologetics as a system of thought is subject to the corruption of man. Apologetics in the hands of an unsaved purely religious person is no more useful than a science textbook in the hands of Richard Dawkins. In both cases, you will find many truthful statements and a system of thought that in many ways is intelligent, but in the end, both systems are utterly bankrupt of moral authority. Further, as a system of thought or an overarching philosophy, both are tragically destructive and build up human pride rather than making the person more endeared to Christ.

It would seem that the only way to truly evaluate apologetics is to categorize it rightly. As I see it, there are two categories that are relevant to this discussion. The first is apologetics whose aim is foremost about proclaiming the need for salvation in Christ alone. The second is more general and simply aims to defend the intellectual truths claimed by Christianity. Now both systems ultimately run alongside one another and have many commonalities. However, the thread that holds each one together is very different and is what is most important for this evaluation that I am doing here.

Intellectual Ascent

John MacArthur wrote a book called The Gospel According to Jesus some years ago, which was strongly criticized by many within the greater evangelical world. The reason it was criticized is that it challenged the prevailing winds of evangelicalism and ultimately claimed that a large portion of visible Christianity is delusional in upholding mere religion as opposed to true saving faith. What John MacArthur argued was that many people have an intellectual ascent to the facts of Christianity, but have not surrendered their lives to Jesus. I had never read the Gospel According to Jesus until recently. When I did, it solidified something I had already known. For most of my life, despite claiming to be, I was not really a Christian. I conformed to a faith that was an intellectual ascent to the facts of Christianity. The first time I read Mere Christianity, I actually became more religious and further embedded in false religion. Of course, I didn’t know it at the time.

In evaluating apologetics in a very general sense, I would ask that Christians be ever mindful of the gospel. I believe that anything we endeavor to do as Christians should ultimately come back to the gospel. There is a quote that I am fond of from a sermon by Reverend Al Martin that is relevant to what I am trying to convey. He said, “The cross does not give us a minor shift or two with regards to a few of our ethical and religious values. The cross radically disrupts the very center and citadel of your life from self, to Christ.” If you are a Christian, everything flows from and to Christ. Thus, as I would evaluate anything we do, I would evaluate the usefulness of apologetics. If the apologetic aim does not center on Christ, it is not useful. Of course, God in His magnificence may still use it, so please do not misunderstand. However, it is not in and of itself what we should seek to do in apologetics. It is not God honoring. Instead, it is merely man centered and aimed at the proclamation of religion.

Gospel Centered

As I have stated, I believe apologetics must be gospel centered and flowing from and to Christ. But what does that look like? I wish I could say it was an easy thing to distinguish, but I can’t. It can be a challenge many times to rightly divide the truth. I have read and followed an apologetics ministry, sometimes for years, before realizing that it was simply not gospel centered. And yet, there are some telltale signs that I believe we should watch for. They are as follows:

• When is Christ brought into the argument? There are some apologetics ministries that almost never get to actually proclaiming Christ.
• What is the general tone of the ministry? Is it bitter and argumentative? Or, is it humble and heartbroken over the lost? Make no mistake, proclaiming Christ will get people upset. However, are people getting upset because the person proclaiming the truth is simply mean and argumentative, or are they getting upset because of an accurate proclamation of the gospel? Is it hatred for the messenger because of the message, or hatred for the messenger because of the way it is delivered? We should be heartbroken and humble when we venture to proclaim these truths, issuing the proclamation in love, not anger.
• Is the ministry aimed ultimately at proclaiming the gospel, and bringing lost souls to Christ? Or, is it simply defending truths as a means of intellectual superiority? Our arguments should not be about our intellect, but should at some point draw in on the gospel.
• Is the ministry proclaiming Biblical centered truths, regardless of their secular support, or is it simply seeking to prop the Bible up by secular means? The Bible has stood the test of time, not by human might, but by it being the very Word of God. It is great when our human systems of thought offer support to the Bible, but we should not be confused into thinking that the Bible actually needs that support. Even if every secular system went against the Bible, it does not make it any less true.

These are just some general aspects of an apologetics ministry that might help in evaluating whether it is gospel centered. In the end, the usefulness of apologetics is found in the fruit it bears. For that aim, I believe that the best apologetic is always the one that is within the context of the gospel.

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