What are apologetics? Using the dictionary, apologetic means: “of the nature of formal defense or justification of something such as a theory or religious doctrine”. The defense of our faith is vitally important to all Christians, but maybe especially those who are growing up in Christ. The importance of this can be lost on people because many people separate preaching the Gospel from defense of the faith. Some even discount the importance of defending the Bible and our faith, both from within and from outside the text of the Bible. Some questions make teenagers, children, and adults doubt their faith and whether belief in God is reasonable. Today some people  have made it their mission to tell all Christians that our faith is unreasonable, that there is no defense for it, that it’s merely a myth like that of Zeus or Odin. Is that true? Not in the slightest. This series will discuss  many questions that children, teenagers, and even young adults have or are asked about the faith, Bible, and more. In this intro, I want to go over why it is so important to know about this and teach our children that faith is not belief in the unreasonable or blind following what someone has told them. Faith is a reasonable trust in what God will do because of what He has already done.

Biblically speaking, defending the faith is something that has been done since the first chapters of the New Testament. John himself wrote about why he wrote the Gospel: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” [John 20:30-31, ESV, emphasis added] John wrote down everything so those who read would see all the signs (or proofs) of Jesus’ divinity, sinlessness, power, and resurrection. Peter himself in his letter commends the believers to “always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” [1 Peter 3:15, ESV] Paul also exhorts churches (and believers) to defend their faith against arguments: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” [2 Corinthians 10:5, ESV, emphasis added], “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” [Colossians 2:8, ESV], and “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” [Colossians 4:6, ESV, emphasis added] These verses seem to say that Christians need to be able to combat outside philosophy and arguments, answering any questions.

If we look through Acts, we see even more clearly repeatedly how often debates and arguments occurred. In Acts 18, it records that Apollos “powerfully refuted Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus” [Acts 18:28, ESV]. Here a Jewish convert to Christianity used the Scriptures to make his point: Jesus is Christ.  Acts 17 records Paul debating with the people in Thessalonica (he writes two letters to the Thessalonians), Berea, and Athens. In the next chapter, he “tried to persuade Jews and Greeks” [Acts 18:4, ESV] in Corinth. Additionally, there is the famous discourse we have recorded of Paul on Mars Hill. He knew the philosophies, arguments, and writings of the Greeks so well, he used their own philosophy to teach  them about Christ.

Today, many young people are attacked on the basis on their belief, from accusations that the exclusivity of Christianity is offensive to the slander that Christianity is anti-science. Many young Christians feel like they can’t ask questions about the Bible or faith, or that the Bible can’t answer their intellectual doubts about faith. I believe there is no bad question. If a child, student, whoever, has a question about faith or the Bible, our responsibility as teacher, parents, and pastors is to answer that question as fully and completely as possible and be patient while the Holy Spirit works in the person’s heart and mind. Some will struggle with a question for a little while before they accept the truth. The topics and questions within apologetics can equip children, teens, and young adults with the answers that Christianity provides. My hope is this series will cover many topics for parents to use as an example of how they can teach complete, thorough, reliable reasons for faith.

Each article, I will give an in-depth explanation of a specific topic for the parents, for the purpose of equipping them with lots of  information,  including some resources, books, and references for additional study.  Following the explanation, we will go over some sample conversations you could have with your children, from a young child to elementary to junior high student. Our hope is to equip parents with how they can both answer any question that comes up and be preparing their children for the lies they will hear from the outside world about the Bible, Christ, and Christians.