5 Important Areas For Apologetics
The interesting thing about apologetics is that it does not cover just one subject. It is theology and science and history and philosophy and so much more.
In order to be effective apologists, we have to find the intersection of our areas of interest and those topics that are relevant to the people we speak to.
Here are five areas that I think are important for this day and age. This is not to say that other subjects are not important.
- The historical Jesus. Jesus should be the centre of all that we do. Since the beginning of the church, people have attacked the identity of Jesus. The present popularity of the Jesus Myth is an indication of how important this topic is.
- Faith and science. People continue to pit faith and science as if they are opposites. People ignore the fact that many of the most influential scientists in history have been people of faith. As technology advances, this will become more and more important.
- The nature of truth. Is truth relative or absolute? Can something be true for me and not for you? These are some of the questions the current generation is grappling with. Christians need to be ready to speak into this conversation.
- Christianity and other religions. This is related to the previous point. As we become more and more a global village, we are encountering people of other religions. Do Christians and Muslims believe in the same God? Is Christianity and Buddhism compatible? Is there a way to have religious pluralism that doesn’t compromise each religion’s integrity?
- The problem of suffering. This one will never go away. That is not to say that we should seek a comprehensive theodicy that explains away all suffering. But we should reflect on how Christianity informs our understanding of suffering. We should also seek to practically respond to suffering.
What areas of apologetics do you see as being the most relevant for our current time?
As an atheist who encounters, and counters, apologists, there are a few problems with what Christian apologists try to do. I do think you covered the topics of apologetics but they still fail.
1. The historical jesus has nothing to do with the jesus that Christians worship. That you are so desperate for any evidence, even if it is for a delusional Jewish man who thought he was the messiah, does show that you don’t have much faith at all. This delusional man isn’t the Jesus Christ, Son of God character. We have nothing that supports the existence of that character.
2. Faith and science are opposites since magic/supernatural has never been the answer to anything. There have been many people of faith who were scientists and they were of all sorts of faiths and versions of Christianity that contradict each other. Compartmentalization is a powerful thing. I always see Christians trying to be impressive by saying that Newton was a Christian. Well, he was, but he was an antitrinitarian which most Christians aren’t now and most insist that those people aren’t “really” Christians. As technology advances we see more and more that there is nothing to support the existence of the Christian god or other gods. To avoid this problem, a lot of Christians try to make their god vaguer and vaguer to slip into the gaps. This technology has lead to the internet where people can find out how Christianity isn’t all it is claimed to be and that we don’t have the evidence for it that Christians would try to claim. Most religions depend on ignorance, willful or otherwise, to control their believers.
3. There is nothing to support the claim of any Christians having the truth, nor of any theists at all having some truth. There is no reason to think that the truth is subjective. If you wish to claim that reality is subjective, then I do invite you to put your bare hand in molten steel. As it stands, it doesn’t surprise me that you are heading toward solipsism. It’s often where Christians apologetics end up.
4. There is no reason to think that Christians and Muslims or Christians and Jews or any variant believe in the same god. The religions contradict each other as versions of Christianity contradict each other. Religion generally depends on creating a “them vs us” when it comes to controlling their believers with ignorance and hate/fear. “Them” are evil and “us” is not.
We also have Christians trying to claim that everyone agrees with them, and that every good person is “really” a Christian. That is just selfish and greedy, trying to claim that the only good comes from their god. That no religion can show that its essential claims are true, there is no reason to believe in any of them.
5. The problem of suffering isn’t hard to get rid of if you get rid of gods. We have various claims about suffering from Christians so there is no reason to believe any of you have the “right” answer. Epicurus pretty much gets is right in his riddle “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
As described in the bible, this god isn’t worth worship at all. Most Christians come up with the idea that anything this god does is by definition “good” but would be horrified if a human did these things that this god does in the bible. This ends up with them having a morality based on might equals right and nothing more. There is also this bit I found on the wiki entry for the “problem of evil” which poses quite a problem: “But if an evil is necessary because it secures a greater good, then it appears we humans have no duty to prevent it, for in doing so we would also prevent the greater good for which the evil is required. Even worse, it seems that any action can be rationalized, as if one succeeds in performing it, then God has permitted it, and so it must be for the greater good.”
One could wonder if abusive priests/pastors/Christians use this as an excuse for their behavior.