By Dr. Josh Mulvihill
Apologetics is the defense of the Christian faith. Peter states that Christians are to be prepared, “to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
The goal of apologetics is to teach the truthfulness of Christianity over other worldviews, reveal the problems with false ideas, defend against attacks of faith, and persuade belief by presenting the evidence for Christianity. We are all apologists and need to make it part of our teaching ministry. We seek to answer the why questions that others have and give evidence for the truth of the Christian faith. Apologetics can be divided into four questions that build on each other and help someone develop a rooted and established faith in Christ.
1. What Does the Bible teach?
Young people will not remain faithful to a faith they do not understand and cannot defend. In a secularized culture, it is more critical than ever for young people to know what the Bible teaches, why they should believe it, and to be prepared to defend themselves from attacks to their faith.
Our children know Bible stories and VeggieTales. They know about Daniel and the Lion's Den and Noah’s Ark because that’s what young people hear week after week. That’s not going to get them very far today. What will our young people do when someone makes a claim and provides “evidence” that the resurrection never happened? Or that the Bible is full of errors? Or that Christianity is guilty of horrible evils in history? Or that science disproves the Bible? Suddenly, a Bible story knowledge of Scripture is insufficient. Our children need to understand deep theological truths and core doctrines of the Christian faith.
Let us give ourselves fully to the task of diligently teaching the whole counsel of God to children and doing everything we can to persuade them to accept the truth claims about Christianity and trust Christ.
2. Why Should I Believe the Bible?
Develop a case for Christianity utilizing biblical, scientific, historical, and archeological evidence to establish the truthfulness of the biblical worldview. Show that Christianity is true, credible, reliable, and aligns with the real world. We have to work hard to help children develop a firm conviction that Christianity is true so that they actually have a faith to defend.
We can prioritize the following areas with children: What evidence is there for the trustworthiness of the Bible, the existence of God, the creation of the world, and the resurrection of Jesus? Why should we live according to God’s laws in the Bible? Let’s explore two examples of how we can provide evidence that the Bible is true to help fortify a child’s faith.
We can believe the Bible is true and trustworthy because archeological discoveries verify what the Bible says. The Bible makes historical references to people, places, and events. Many of these are verifiable. Archeologists have uncovered the city of Jericho with evidence that the walls fell flat, a ring with Pilate’s name on it, and David’s city. These discoveries confirm the existence of people and places, verifying the reliability of the Bible.
The Bible has more manuscript evidence to support that it is true than any ten pieces of classical literature combined. If the Bible is not trustworthy then no other ancient documents are either. The Jewish scribes were meticulous in preserving the biblical text. They had a special group of people whose only job was to preserve and copy the text. They literally counted every letter and word to make sure there were no mistakes and if there were, they threw it away and started over. There are more than 25,000 ancient portions of manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today. No other ancient document comes close to that number. The Iliad is second, with more than 600 manuscripts. The manuscripts make a compelling reason to trust that the Bible we have today is the Bible that was written thousands of years ago. No book is as accurate as the Bible.
3. What Do Others Believe?
Children need to know what other people believe and be trained to test the beliefs of others according to the Bible. One way we can do this is by comparing and contrasting other religions and belief systems with the Christian faith. Help your children answer the following questions: Are other religions true? Do they provide different paths to God? We need to spend time exploring the claims of the most common belief systems of our day with our children such as Islam, Mormonism, Secularism, Marxism, and New Age Spirituality. What do these worldviews believe about the nature of reality, who we are, how we got here, what is the problem, and what is the solution? How do they know these things? What we will learn is that the core beliefs of every other religion are different from Christianity. They make claims that are contradictory about God and salvation and cannot all be true at the same time. When we look at the truth claims of Christianity, they align with the world and reality. Christianity is the only religion that is not a works-based religion.
A second way to do this is through cultural apologetics where we teach a child the truth of the Bible and then expose them to the ideas of society and help them discern what is true and what is erroneous. Here is a short list of biblical topics that it is critical to teach children: biblical sexuality, the biblical definition of a man and woman, the biblical view of marriage, the value of life, the role of the church, family and government, the biblical mandate to take dominion over creation, and a biblical understanding of justice and race. Society has a secular creed and is working diligently to shape the views and values of our children on these topics. If we are silent about them, that void will be filled by other voices. Pay careful attention to the common cultural statements of the day like “Love is love,” “Women’s rights are human rights,” “Live your truth,” “You be you,” “Be your authentic self,” and “Gender is nonbinary.” These are not harmless statements but are hardcore secular beliefs that many Christians absorb. Proactively point out these statements, talk about them with your children, and help them identify the lies.
4. How Can I Provide Answers?
In every generation, there are many attacks against Christianity and children need to be introduced to these distorted ideas, learn to test them against God’s Word, and be able to identify truth from error. We’ve all heard about a teenager who goes to school, gets a teacher who says something about Christianity, and blows them away. That only happens because the young person has never heard the claim before. That’s why we bring these challenges to them, talk about them with them, and train them for it. How do you do this? Don’t wait for your children to come to you with the challenges.
Anticipate attacks and arguments that a child will face in the teen and adult years. The most common attacks children need to be prepared for include: the work of God (anything supernational in the Bible), the Word of God (supposed contradictions, hard topics, and reliability of the Bible), the Son of God (the resurrection and deity of Jesus), and the law of God (the moral teachings of the Bible, especially sexuality, gender, marriage, justice, and the sanctity of life). After teaching a biblical truth, present the faulty argument, prove why it is false, give reading material that establishes the truth, and continue to point the erroneous arguments out in conversation over the years. There are lots of ways you can creatively do this. Here are a few ideas:
Equip yourself. Read a book or listen to a podcast. Read Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy or Why Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice by Scott David Allen. When you are equipped, you will have the training to pass on to others.
Build an apologetics library for each child. Books make great gifts. Everyone should have books from Josh McDowell, C.S. Lewis, and Francis Schaeffer on their shelf. Suggested books include Cold-Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace, Tactics by Gregory Koukl, The Fallacy Detective by Nathanial Bluehorn, Answers Volume 1-4 by Answers in Genesis, Quick Answers to Social Questions by Bryan Osborne, Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions by Ken Ham, Debunking Evolution by Daniel Biddle, True For You But Not For Me by Paul Copan, and The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
Look for examples of false beliefs or erroneous messages in movies, music, social media, and television. Point them out, ask questions, and discuss why something is problematic. Pick a common phrase to talk about, choose a news story to discuss, watch a movie and identify secular views, or discuss song lyrics from popular artists. Always point back to Scripture so that it is not your opinion, but based on the authority of God’s Word.
Expose your children to the truth in real-life experiences. Watch a live ultrasound so they learn the horrors of abortion. Visit the Creation Museum to teach the truth of creation and then visit a natural history museum to show the error of evolution. Watch a debate between a Christian and a non-believer.
Take objections from a child seriously. Do not mock an objection or dismiss a question. Spend as much time and energy as needed to fully explore a topic with a child.
The battle of ideas is real and it’s taking no prisoners. We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our children. Helping a child detect error and discern truth in a secularized culture is critical, and you are uniquely positioned for such a time as this.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill is the Executive Director of Church and Family Ministry at RenewaNation. He served as a pastor for nearly twenty years and serves on the board of Awana. He holds a Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Biblical Grandparenting, Preparing Children for Marriage, Biblical Worldview, and 50 Things Every Child Needs to Know Before Leaving Home. Josh is married to Jen, and they have five children. Josh blogs at GospelShapedFamily.com.