Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness

The gospel is both the goal and the lens through which the apologetic task is approached.

God is far beyond humanity’s grasp. We can know him, but not exhaustively. There will always be a mystery to who he is that goes beyond our cognitive ability. He is, after all, God!

Unfortunately, an unbeliever’s confusion is often exacerbated when a Christian either is unfaithful to the gospel message or is inflexible in the way they present the gospel.

Apologetics, in its most basic form, is the practice of offering an appeal and a defense for the Christian faith.

secularism—in all its variations—actually has its own set of beliefs and values that cannot be proven and therefore requires a type of faith.21 For example, two of the assumptions essential to modern science—the rationality of the universe and the reliability of basic cognitive faculties—cannot be proven by science. They must first be believed.

One of our jobs as apologists is to ask the question, “But what if it is true?”

while we do use our intellect when we make commitments and decisions, we never make them on a purely intellectual basis.

The idea of basic human dignity was a later development rooted in a Christian framework that was for centuries the backbone of the Western tradition and has remained a central feature in modern morality.

When people really, truly consider what it means that they will die, they cannot help but be deeply disturbed by the question. Thus, by sympathetically getting someone to seriously consider what will happen to them after they die, an apologist can place an existential weight on their shoulders that is difficult for them to bear, let alone shrug off