LUTHER RICE SEMINARY

APOLOGETICS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TODR. BRUCE KREUTZER

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTSFOR

CM 530EDUCATIONAL MINISTRIES

BYROBERT HOWELL

HUTTO, TX16 MARCH 2015

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OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . 1

PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE DECLINE IN CHURCH ATTENDANCE. 2

SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS AND CHANGE THE PROBLEM. . . 4

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE YOUTH MINISTER AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR 9

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . 12

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INTRODUCTION

In a book published in 2009, authors Ken Ham and Britt

Beemer attempt to raise awareness to the increasing

“epidemic” of young adults leaving the church.1 In a study

conducted by Barna, it was observed that 61% of young adults

“had ben churched at one point during their teen years but

they are now spiritually disengaged.”2 Though there are many

reasons for these droves of individuals leaving the church,

there are many related to an apologetical nature. That is,

it relates to the defense of the faith, a reasoning of the

faith.3 One of the greatest needs for Christian education

(as this relates directly to the ages of those leaving the

Church) is for an apologetic defense of why Christianity is

the truth. Dr. Markos sums this up when he writes

Following in the tradition of Socrates and Peter, the modern Christian apologist neither apologizes for his beliefs nor relies solely on emotion when confronting

1 Ken Ham, and C. Britt Beemer, Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will QuitChurch and What You Can Do to Stop It (Green Forest, Ark.: Master Books, 2009), 19.2 Ibid.3 Louis Markos, Apologetics for the Twenty-first Century (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2010), 17-18.

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those who consider his divine calling to be false or fanatical, delusional or dangerous. Instead he presents—boldly but not harshly—a defense of Christianity that squares with reason, logic, and human experience.4

The problem today within Christian education is that

ministers and educators have failed to teach the next

generation the truth of the truth. By this it is meant the

provable aspects of the Christian faith. Continuing on with

the results of the study, Ham and Beemer note, “39.8% first

had doubts [of the Christian faith] in middle school, 43.7%

first had their doubts in high school, and 10.6% had their

first doubts during college.”5 Combining to the two

percentages of middle and high school, one is left with a

shocking total. Almost half of students in high school have

doubts about their faith. And more than a third in middle

school have doubts. These figures are stunning, and it sheds

a light on a glaring problem in Christian schools, churches,

and youth groups.

PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE DECLINE OF CHURCH ATTENDANCE

4 Ibid., 17.5 Ham and Beemer, 32.

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There is an explanation, though painful it may be for

Christians to hear, that will help in understanding the

reason behind the problem and the necessary changes to

reverse it. One of the questions asked of this group of

people was, “Did you often attend Sunday school?”6 61%

answered in the affirmative, and from this several

interesting facts were gathered.7 Several of these relate to

the reasoning of the faith. For example, they are “more

likely not to believe that all the accounts/stories in the

Bible are true/accurate”.8 Along the same lines they are

“more likely to doubt the Bible because it was written by

men” and “more likely to doubt the Bible because it was not

translated correctly.”9 This should be incredibly

surprising, and Ham and Beemer note their surprise when they

write, “This was our most stunning and disconcerting result

of the entire survey.”10

6 Ibid., 38.7 For the full list, see Ham and Beemer, 39.8 Ibid.9 Ibid.10 Ibid., 40.

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There are several effects to note regarding the

failures in churches and schools. Perhaps the primary reason

is that teachers and ministers are failing to teach the

logical cohesion, historically reliability, and factual

trustworthiness of biblical truth. Dr. Markos presents a

well-stated summary of this when he writes, “As a direct

result of this shift, the traditional doctrinal claims of

Christianity have been removed from the realm of objective

truth and deposited in that of subjective feeling, causing

an artificial rupture to form between empirical ‘facts’ and

spiritual ‘values’.”11 So the youth in churches and

Christian schools have been trained and taught to

distinguish between facts and the Bible.

Another problem that has arisen is “an image

problem”.12 This was another study conducted by Barna and

Kinnaman. In this research the authors find “outsiders’ most

common reaction to the faith: they think Christians no

longer represent what Jesus had in mind, that Christianity 11 Markos, 22.12 David Kinnaman,, and Gabe Lyons, Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity-- and Why It Matters. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2007), 9.

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in our society is not what it was meant to be.”13

Christianity has fallen into ill-repute. For reasons that

span the scope of the current discussion, the total of those

aspects will not be examined in their fullest. However,

several facts will aid in the understanding of the failure

of the church and Christian school and will enable a

progression to be made.

Unfortunately, 49% of those interviewed had a bad

impression of evangelical Christians.14 One of the reasons

for this is, as they note, “Evangelicals were often thought

to be Christians who are political activists.”15 Another

reason is the way evangelicals conduct themselves.16

Perhaps the most eye-opening aspect of their study was

the three common perceptions of Christianity. These are

“anti-homosexual,” “judgmental,” and “hypocritical”.17 The

authors spend the remainder of the book developing these 13 Kinnaman and Lyons, 13.14 Ibid., 23. The ages ranged from 16-29. These are primarilythe ages being discussed in this paper.15 Ibid., 23-24.16 Kinnaman and Lyons write, “What they react negatively to is our “swagger,” how we go about things and the sense of self-importance we project.” Ibid., 24.17 Ibid., 25.

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ideas and others in order to illustrate that a character

development progress is necessary for Christianity. The

reason this is important, and its relationship to the

current discussion, is that the same age group surveyed in

Ham and Beemer’s study is the same group in Kinnaman and

Lyons’. This is, again, shocking information. This means

that Christian educators have not only failed to present the

facts of Christianity and their relation to the sciences, it

also means that they have failed to represent it as

authentic faith in Jesus Christ. Mahatma Gandhi once said,

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your

Christians are so unlike your Christ.”18 This quote

represents the world’s view of Christianity, and the young

people of today do not want to be associated with such a

Christianity.

SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS AND CHANGE THE PROBLEM

18 Mahatma Gandhi, "A Quote by Mahatma Gandhi." Goodreads. Accessed March 16, 2015. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/22155-i-like-your-christ-i-do-not-like-your-christians.

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The Church is not without hope. Although the situation

is dire, and should be treated as a life or death situation,

it is not unchangeable. In both of the studies conducted by

the four authors solutions are offered. The first problem

presented is that of unbelief. While the middle school and

high school teenagers attended church (61%) they failed to

believe basic facts about the Bible. There is one solution,

and one solution only: teach the validity of those beliefs.

Here is where apologetics comes into the scene, like a

knight in shining armor. It does not replace the truth, but

is the truth personified. As Augustine once quipped, “Truth

is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose.

It will defend itself.”19 However, in the current culture it

is important to provide the reasons why Christians believe

what they believe. Dr. Markos adequately describes the

failure, “The faithful guarded their religious space and

left the academy, the public schools, the arts, the media,

and the government to all under the sway of secular

19 "Quotations." Diggerfortruth. March 2, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2015. https://diggerfortruth.wordpress.com/inspiring-quotations/.

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humanism. In a sense they ‘cut a deal’: leave us our faith

and we will cede reason to you.”20 So Christians, both

ministers and educators, have been perfectly happy to allow

those entities to have reason while keeping faith. This has

led, at least in part, to the departure of students ranging

from the 6th grade to the 12th grade. Douglas Groothius

offers a solution, one that will enable many of those

students fleeing the church to say because of the truth,

writing,

The antidote to this conundrum is to defend Christianity’s core claims rationally in order to show that Christianity is indeed objectively true. But more than this, apologetics needs to demonstrate that Christian truth is winsome because it explains who we are and how we can flourish as creatures in this life and beyond, if we are reconciled to our Creator.21

Both problems, the failure to teach the truthfulness as

well as the failure to represent Christ are found in

Groothius’ solution. Youth ministers and Christian educators

must learn from his suggestions and implement them in their

ministry and education. The problems will be addressed in

the order they were examined.20 Markos, 22-23.21 Douglas R. Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case forBiblical Faith (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic ;, 2011), 25.

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Christian educators and youth ministers, as well as

parents, must present the factual evidence for the faith.

While it is truth that “Now faith is the assurance of things

hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” it does not

mean blind faith, without any care or concern for facts.22

One interesting point to keep in mind is brought out by

Vanhetloo, when he writes, “A basic distinction to have

clear concerning faith is the contrast between faith as a

faculty of man’s makeup (corresponding somewhat to

intellectual and emotional aspects) and faith as acceptance

and trust (involving the whole of man, intellect, emotion,

and will). It is the contrast of achieving or accepting.”23

These leaders in the school and church must take this

mindset and begin to make changes in their ministries and

class rooms. Concerning the trustworthiness of the

Scriptures, Dr. Markos writes, “One of the essential

components of ‘mere’ Christianity is a belief that the Bible

is divinely inspired and wholly trustworthy and holds 22 Hebrews 11.6 (ESV, 2001)23 Vanhetloo, Warren. "Fact or Faith?" Central Bible Quarterly 1, no. 3 (1958): 27-30. Accessed May 16, 2015. http://www.galaxie.com/.

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authority in the church and in the life of the believer.”24

Rather than attempting to prove the inerrancy or plenary

inspiration, Dr. Markos, and Christian educators and

ministers alike, should “show the Bible to be reliable in its

account of Jewish and Christian history.”25 Why is this

important? Why should the youth minister or Christian

educator attempt to prove the reliability of the Bible?

Remember, in Ham and Beemer’s study, 61% of those who

regularly attended Sunday school did not believe the Bible

to be accurate (the historical aspect).26 That is more than

half of those who regularly attend Sunday school. So proving

the reliability would be incredibly beneficial to their

faith. Groothius notes the importance of edifying the faith

of the believer through apologetics, writing, “But

apologetics is offered not only in response to the doubts

and denials of non-Christians. It also fortifies believers

in their faith whether they are wrestling with doubts and

24 Markos, 145.25 Ibid., 146.26 Ham and Beemer, 38-39.

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questions or simply seeking a deeper grounding for their

biblical beliefs.”27

So Dr. Markos spends an entire chapter presenting

evidence that provides the believer with factual truth. He

spends several pages developing the historical reliability

of the Bible. Interestingly he writes, “Despite continued

media and academic claims that the Bible is historically

suspect, the fact remains that every phase of Jewish history

—from the patriarchs to the exodus to the conquest of Canaan

to the united and divided Kingdoms of David and his heirs to

the exile and return—has yield artifacts and extrabibical

texts that square with the biblical accounts.”28 Fulfilled

prophecy and the reliability of textual transmission also

point to the factual basis of the Bible. Markos also

develops the historicity of Jesus, which serves as another

beam on the foundation of the reliability of the Word of

God.

Moving from the presentation of truth, what about the

representation of Christ? Why do so many non-believers have 27 Groothius, 25.28 Markos, 148.

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such a low view of Christianity? And why are so many young

people leaving the church? The reasons have already been

noted. However, what can the Church and Christian schools do

to change this perception? As with the presentation of truth

and Ham and Beemer’s suggestions, Kinnaman and Lyons offer

several suggestions to help with the “’emotional appeal’

(subjective attractiveness)”.29 But for the sake of time and

space, only a few will be briefly mentioned.

To begin with, the main objective would be “changing

the perception.”30 If the world perceives Christians as

being anti-homosexual, judgmental, and hypocritical, it is

necessary to change this. The authors give a sobering

thought when they write, “When it comes to our interaction

with outsiders, we have to realize that our relationships,

our interactions with people, comprise the picture of Jesus

that people retain.”31 So it would be sinful, to say the

least, to not change those perceptions. Jesus dealt with

sin, and this can no honest Christian deny. However, He

29 Groothius, 25.30 Kinnaman and Lyons, 204.31 Ibid., 207.

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dealt with sin entirely different than Christians today.

This can be done in a variety of ways, and while Kinnaman

and Lyons offer several suggestions, the focus for this

topic is to teach the younger generation the importance of

living the Christian life.32

Another suggestion is to answer questions asked by the

youth. They want to know why it is okay to kill witches in

the Old Testament but not in the New Testament. An entire

appendix in Groothius’ volume on apologetics deals with

answering the objects and questions of the “the divinely

ordained genocide.”33 The genocide of the Canaanites has

left a black mark on Christianity, and the failure of

Christians to provide honest, biblical answers to questions

has left an increasingly dark view. While focusing solely on

the issue of genocide, the application of the statement made

by Stan Gundry encapsulates the failure of Christianity to

wrestle with difficult topics in a Christ-honoring way, “How

could the God of the Bible command such an indiscriminate

slaughter of an entire people, especially since in the New 32 Ibid., 204-211.33 Groothius, Appendix 2, 662-676.

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Testament Jesus commands us to love and to pray for our

enemies? Our tendency is often to push this question into

the backs of our minds and allow it to sit there,

unresolved.”34

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE YOUTH MINISTER AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR

After examining one of the greatest issues facing the

Church and Christian schools, and looking at suggestions to

address and change those issues, the youth minister and

Christian educator are often left on their own to develop a

practical execution of said suggestions. The purpose of this

section is to provide the Christian educator, and the youth

minister specifically, with ways to teach the young people

of the Church and students in Christian schools the factual

basis of Christianity as well as the biblical representation

of the same.

34 C. S. Cowles, Eugene H. Merrill, Daniel L. Gard, and Tremper Longman III, Show Them No Mercy: Four Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Edited by C.S. Cowles. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), 7.

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These are solely the suggestion of the author, with the

experiences and education that the Lord has provided in his

life. It is hoped that this will help the youth minister as

well as the Christian educator, and that many of the young

people passing through the pews of the Church and halls of

the school with remain active in a healthy church.

To begin with, the youth minister must understand the

problems that are affecting his youth group. As such, this

will require avid reading and studying concerning those

issues. Reading books such as Unchristian and Already Gone will

aid him in this understanding. But reading a couple of books

will not provide enough. Additional research from

institutions such as Barna Group© and the Christian Research

Institute© will greatly aid as well. But perhaps the most

needful method of research is building relationships with

the students. They must be able to ask questions, understand

the complexities and apparent contradictions, and work

through the difficult passages. But they must do this with

the youth minister’s help. Left to their own they may

stumble across a heretical doctrine or leader, and their

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newfound place will be much worse than before. The poor

representation of Christ is also another thing the

leadership of the Church and school must face. The world’s

understanding, particularly that of western society, of

Christianity is rather poor and low. But the youth in

churches will see the inconsistencies and eventually leave,

frustrated at the hypocritical atmosphere and ungodly

relationship it has with the world.

Understanding the problems is only half of the battle.

Fixing the problem is the other half. And this is where

takes hard work, ingenuity, and grace. However, a few

options exist that should provide the building blocks to

begin a reform within the Church and School.

How the youth minister should implement this is two-

fold: first, a series can be held covering the topics of an

apologetical nature. A series can be conducted on the

reliability of the Bible. It could be several weeks long.

One beneficial aspect would be to have a conversational feel

to the presentation, where the encouragement of questions

and answers would be given. This way, the curiosity of the

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student is satisfied while aiding in the understanding and

memorizing of the student. Hosting these type of series and

events will only serve to develop and strengthen those

doubts into a rational faith.

But there is another method of addressing these

apologetical issues this: simply allow questions to be

asked. While it is encouraged during those times of intense

study, it should also be encouraged on a day to day basis.

There is absolutely no reason why a student cannot ask a

question regarding the Bible. These questions, no matter how

silly or misunderstood, should be answered. An atmosphere

where questions are discouraged is an atmosphere where

creativity and curiosity will die. Not only that, it will

also be left barren as students will desire to be at a place

where faith has died as well. That is how serious the matter

is.

Suggestions for topics to cover are: the reliability of

the Bible, the historicity of Jesus, the transmission and

translation process, the Canaanite genocide, the accuracy of

the Gospels, the ontological arguments for God, teleological

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arguments for God, cosmological arguments for God,

intelligent design, and so on.35 These topics could be dealt

with on a week by week basis or a retreat could be held.

A second way of implement these times is to incorporate

it in normal times of preaching and teaching. This should

and could be done naturally. For example, if a youth

minister is beginning a series on the gospel of Matthew, he

can begin with an examination of the historical reliability

of the account. And then as he progresses through the

account he could focus on issues related to that and draw

them out. More time could be given to developing the idea of

fulfilled prophecies and how that should strengthen the

faith of the students. In casual conversations and periods

of discipleship, time should be given to teach the

reliability of the Bible, and other issues related to the

topic of apologetics.

With these two methods of implementation, the issues

facing the presenting of truth will address themselves. No

longer will the American Church take for granted the 35 For a detailed examination of these topics, see Groothius’work.

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religious upbringing and moral uprightness of the individual

in society. These methods will greatly aid the youth

minister to minimize the loss of students in churches.

But what about the representation of the Christian

faith? How can a youth minister change the perceptions of an

entire nation? This is a more difficult endeavor, but one

not less important. Understandably, this will take time. As

it took more than a generation to create this impression of

Christianity, it will take more than a generation to address

the issue and reform the view.

Teaching the students how to act in relation to the

world is a task that is most vital to the youth minister.

The truth should never be compromised, but it can be told

and shared in such a way as to minimize resistance to it. If

people resist the truth it should be on the grounds of the

truth, not in the messenger. Students should learn how to

disagree agreeably. They must learn that Christianity is not

a political party, not homophobic, and not judgmental. The

appearance of perfection must be abolished, as people must

know that Christians are imperfect, and that hypocrisy is a

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curse for every man. If the youth minister can ingrain this

into his students, he will be successful.

Changing the views one has is extremely difficult, but

if the youth minister and students desire to bring people

into a right relationship with God, if they desire to be a

part of something that goes beyond their own wickedness and

shortcomings, then they will begin to teach these things to

one another and then exemplify them out in the world.

SUMMARY

Apologetics, both the “rational legitimacy (objective

truth) and emotional appeal (subjective attractiveness)”

must be taught in the Church and the school.36 If youth

ministers and Christian educators fail to do so, the church

in America will fall.

36 Groothius, 25.20

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Quotations." Diggerfortruth. March 2, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2015. https://diggerfortruth.wordpress.com/inspiring-quotations/.

Cowles, C. S., Eugene H. Merrill, Daniel L. Gard, and Tremper Longman III. Show Them No Mercy: Four Views on God and Canaanite Genocide. Edited by C.S. Cowles. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.

Gandhi, Mahatma. "A Quote by Mahatma Gandhi." Goodreads. Accessed March 16, 2015. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/22155-i-like-your-christ-i-do-not-like-your-christians.

Groothuis, Douglas R. Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic ;, 2011.

Ham, Ken, and C. Britt Beemer. Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It. Green Forest, Ark.: Master Books, 2009.

Kinnaman, David, and Gabe Lyons. Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity-- and Why It Matters. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2007.

Markos, Louis. Apologetics for the Twenty-first Century. Wheaton, Ill.:Crossway, 2010.

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Vanhetloo, Warren. "Fact or Faith?" Central Bible Quarterly 1, no.3 (1958): 27-30. Accessed May 16, 2015. http://www.galaxie.com/.

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