Apologetics—a steppingstone, not a crutch
Published: 24 November 2020 (GMT+10)

Apologetics is a broad and deep subject. Since it has such deep spiritual ramifications, its easy to understand how the study of apologetics can become an all-consuming endeavor for some. However, this is not without its potential pitfalls. An example my pastor gave in a sermon recently really struck a chord with me, and I want to relate it for you (my own paraphrase, not my pastor’s):
A certain old man had never flown in an airplane in his life. It so happened that one day, an airshow was in town and he was offered the chance to ride in a stunt plane. He was understandably reluctant, but his family and friends all encouraged him and insisted he give it a try. When he got back from the ride, he appeared shaken up. His family asked, “Once you just relaxed and let yourself enjoy it, it was pretty fun, wasn’t it?” The old man replied, “I don’t know! I never did that.”
This is an analogy to what the Christian life, or the Christian faith, is like for some. We are always rigidly holding on for dear life, rather than being relaxed and enjoying the ride. In terms of apologetics, this means we are always inwardly trying to convince ourselves, or stay convinced, that the Bible is really true. We never let ourselves simply relax, breathe easy, and just believe.
In my own experience, I have felt a similar way when flying; when turbulence hits, I always get rigid and hold on tight to the armrests, as if the plane might start careening toward the ground at any moment. It takes faith (not sight—since we can’t really see from within the passenger cabin) to believe that the plane won’t crash just because of some turbulence! But this is important: that faith is not blind faith. You can research the matter all you want: planes are built for turbulence. Pilots are trained to know how to handle it when turbulence hits. The wings are designed to flex. You can have all this ‘head knowledge’, but still when you’re in the situation for real, it takes faith to believe it and remain relaxed. I’m not very good at that.
God wants the same from us: He wants us to stop being anxious, relax, and trust Him. That means we need to come to a place in our faith where we are no longer tightly gripping the armrests, constantly going over all the evidences and arguments to try to stay convinced. The more you adopt this attitude, the harder it will be! Using apologetics as a crutch for your faith in this way is certainly not God’s will, and it will hinder your spiritual growth.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Note that God’s peace is supernatural—it surpasses all understanding! We can never get peace in our hearts by obsessing about arguments and evidences. These have their place: let them be a steppingstone for you, to help you overcome doubts as they arise, or to answer objections from skeptics. This is different from fideism—an irrational blind leap of faith—because we do not say that reason and evidence are irrelevant to faith. We cannot simply pick anything arbitrarily and place our faith in it. God has given us strong reasons to be confident that the Bible is true, but once we accept these, we have to move beyond this kind of thinking in order to grow.
Another example is the golf swing (for those of you who play golf). Ever tried to really hit the ball hard? You’re likely to make a terrible shot. But if you relax your arms and let the momentum of your body drive the club, the ball will go further and straighter than if you tried to hit hard using your arms.
Imagine if someone asked you how you know you have a father. First, let’s assume you had never met your father. In this case, you would appeal to evidences. You could say something like, “1) All people have fathers, otherwise they could not exist. 2) My birth certificate, which is a reliable historical testimony, lists a father. 3) My mother has told me about my father,” etc. However, this is not what our walk with God is supposed to be like! Imagine you had a close relationship with your father. You would not need to list all these proofs! You would simply respond by saying, “I know him.” This is what our life with God is supposed to be like. It is not the arguments and evidences on which our faith must ultimately rest, but rather our knowing God by relationship. This is an ongoing struggle for me, because my analytical mind gravitates toward seeking evidence and arguments. I’m sure this is also a struggle for some of you reading this as well. The solution is more simple than you think. Just stop trying to believe, and believe. Let go, and let God work in your life.
If you are struggling with faith, remember what Paul said: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) I take this literally. That is why church fellowship is so important. We need to hear the word of God preached, and fellowship with other believers. This builds up our genuine faith. Without this, we run the risk of allowing our faith to become academic, rather than living.
Readers’ comments
Christians, with reason, trust the only proven indestructable historical account which withstood the test of time, costing the lives in many cases of the eyewitnesses to base their logical conclusion that the 44 writers, confirming over 60 centuries the active involvement of creating the Universe and powerful intervention on behalf of humans who acknowledge Him, by the Person of Jesus the Christ, Son of God the Father and Ruah, the Holy Spirit.
What have you to base your assumption on that this is not true and did not happen? Any eyewitnesses that testified that it is not so?
Of course not, only "we know" and "i think", the result of random electrons firing in a rearranged pondscum accident ( conclusion from your reasoning). Of course you can believe that if you want to, logical reasoning have me to conclude that you and i are much more than that.
Every product, based on scientific reasoning, portrays the level of sophistication, intelligence and effort by the creator of such product. There is more intelligence required to make a single grain of wheat produce a crop than in the whole NASA space program. Humans are infinitely more sophisticated than wheat. The logical, scientifically sound conclusion is that an ultra sophisticated product is the result of ultra sophisticated design by an Ultra Competent Designer, the Proven Designer and Owner of all Life.
I cannot commit intellectual suicide by ignoring the logic of Logos(Gods Word). Faith is the nett result of logical reasoning, the way we love Him back also with our intellect.
Albie
To rest in His sovereignty was the most freeing thing that ever happened to me... that not only did He speak all things into existence but has spoken the end from the beginning.
His purpose from day one was/is to create man in His image (Genesis 1) and that all things continue to work to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8) and His work will be completed on the day of His return when we look upon Him "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" 1 John 3:2
Thank you for your faithfulness to the Word and building the faith of the Saints.
Your Brother in Christ,
Michael
Its not because of "unrighteousness" that we atheists reject your arguments. Its because they are not rational and go against everything we know about nature. god is a contradiction a paradox he cannot exist his existence goes against the laws of nature and scientific method
The people from ancient world were illiterate non scientific superstitious gullible people. We cannot trust everything they wrote we must be skeptical. Quoting the bible does not prove a thing since we dont know who wrote it and for what intentions. I believe it was written by jews with the goal to overthrow the roman empire which they succeeded when emperor constantine declared christianity as state religion. For more information go to wikipedia.
As for humanity dying of genetic mutations, that is a fringe view not even other scientists take it seriously since creationism is pseudoscience alongside horoscope and astrology. If there is evidence for so called genetic entropy I want to see it in a peer reviewed journal not in some creationist website.
Even if genetic entropy is true, scientists will find a way to circumvent it as they have always done.
If christian apologetics worked we would see many atheists converting to christianity but what we see is the total oposite. Modern man has realised that only science can solve all of our problems has evidenced by whats happening right now with covid-19 and the effort that scientists are doing in finding a vaccine.
We must put god and religion in the shelve and start focusing on improving this world for future generations and not hoping for a imaginary paradise. Long live humanity
BUT, in an age when many 'respectable', powerful institutions (even churches) are echoing that original Satanic question 'Has God said?', is it not a testament to His great mercy that He has raised up apologetic ministries in our day for the benefit of His faithful people? You open the daily news, and see some new discovery that contradicts God's word, and it can all look so convincing. A cold voice assaults our minds with the question, surely scientific evidence cannot lie? But Oh! we who are trained in science know only too well how fallible men, with their proud unbelieving hearts, are all too prone to embrace their godless worldview, now such a huge intellectual construct, which has scornfully battered much of Christendom into submission. BUT GOD has won through in our hearts, bearing witness by the Spirit, the water, and the blood to his great truth in Christ (1 John 5:5-8). 'And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness' (1 John 5:19). 'And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;' Romans 1:28 as now! How many church pastors preach thus? We must all open our Bibles!
My own faith journey has been heavily influenced by apologetics - and especially by the work that CMI does (thank you all so much).
Looking back now, I think it was worse than a crutch for me - it was an idol. I used it to silence my own doubts rather than bring me closer to God. Over time, the motivation changed from a battle against doubt into a battle for faith - I began searching for certainty that I could trust Him. Even now, I feel like I don't really know or trust Him, even though I might know a lot of theological and apologetic arguments.
In a recent discussion, I was trying to explain the role of apologetics (as I see it) to someone, and a crystal clear picture came to mind... It was the picture of a door with all sorts of things pushed up against it - some of which I had put there and some of which had been put there by others. The job of apologetics is to remove those barriers from in front of the door. But even then - you still have a door...
Jesus said "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20)
Jesus help me to open the door.
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