Dealing with Doubts - Rethinking Apologetics for the 21st Century, Part 1

Are you concerned about your children and grandchildren as our world becomes increasingly hostile to Christianity? Do you wonder why 70% of our youth are leaving the church five years after high school and what we can do about it?

If so, stay with me. There's real hope and real answers on the way. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Our mission is to inspire Christians to be genuine followers of Jesus and to empower them to be active disciple-makers in our world. Thanks for joining us as we continue our series Dealing with Doubts, Reaffirming Your Personal Faith. For the last couple of programs, Chip and our guest teacher, Jon Dickerson, discussed the heartbreaking trend of Christians deconstructing their faith and what can be done to reverse it. Today Chip will build off that foundation by explaining how to engage in conversations about Jesus and the Bible to draw people into the faith instead of pushing them away.

Well, there's a ton of great insight to get to, so let's settle in for Chip's talk, Rethinking Apologetics in the 21st Century. We are living in a day of a tectonic shift in our culture that has greatly impacted the church. I don't know about you, but we are living in a day where evil is called good, where good is called evil.

We're living in a day where bitter is called sweet and sweet is called bitter, darkness is called light and light is called darkness. And according to the ancient prophet Isaiah, 2700 years ago, he said, when this happens, it brings great, great sorrow. I know many of you have to be deeply, deeply concerned of what you're seeing happen in the culture and also happening in the church. We're seeing young people that don't walk with God anymore. We're seeing the moral values in the culture and outside the church rapidly, rapidly change. And we're in a series here called Why I Believe, and I believe we're in a day where we have to rethink our apologetics. Apologetics is that big word that's about making a defense for our faith. It's giving a reasoned verbal explanation for why we believe, and we can explain this great hope that we have within us. But as you can see, and as I observe as I go around the country, I meet parents and I meet grandparents who say to me, you know, we went to church regularly. We sent our children even to a Christian school or we sent them to a Christian university or a good secular university that had a good Christian group.

And it's now five or seven years later. They don't share our morals. They don't share our values.

They currently are living with someone. I mean, the world is topsy-turvy. And here's what I want to tell you. Our approach to apologetics, that this is why I believe, this is what I believe, it's got to change. Because honestly, what we've passed on to our children and what's being passed on through the church at large, with some really wonderful exceptions, it's currently not working.

You know, let me tell you what sort of the classic approach to apologetics is because it had a very powerful and good impact in my life. I did not grow up as a Christian. I had never opened the Bible in my life. I came to Christ right before I went away to college. And then I had a wonderful experience.

I mean, it was a campus ministry that grew. I got in the Bible. I mean, my life changed. I had deep loving relationships. I had peace and joy. My life changed so much. My dad, who was a hardcore alcoholic, asked me, what in the world happened to you? And I told him about this new relationship with Jesus. And I was reading the New Testament and my father trusted Christ, our whole family.

I mean, it was a revolution. It was awesome. And I graduated and I was a really good student. And the chairman of my department, I really admired him. And I think he really liked and kind of admired me. And I was ready to graduate and I, you know, graduated with honors and good things like that. And he had white hair and he was really bright and I really admired kind of what he thought and his opinion. And I could tell that he waited until I graduated because he wanted to ask me a question that might put our relationship at stake.

And so I was ready to walk across the stage like in a day or so and all the coursework is done. And I'll never forget this. I mean, this was like one of those pictures in my mind, Dr. P with the snow white hair and his arms crossed and the light was coming. It was a brick building that had ivy and he tilted his head and he said, Chip, can I ask you a question? I said, sure, Dr. P. He said, I just don't understand how someone who appears to be as intellectually astute as you are could actually believe in a literal Jesus and this born again stuff and that the Bible is really God's word. And then he followed that by asking me three or four rather challenging questions about my faith. How could I trust the Bible and could Jesus be the only way and isn't that narrow, et cetera, et cetera.

And it shook me. In fact, I'm going to go on record to say that it's not bad to have some doubts as a follower of Christ. It's not bad to get shaken now and then and realize I need to really think through what I believe and why. And I came away from that experience with three convictions. Number one is I was not going to throw my brains in the trash to follow Christ. I mean, this is a man I respected and you know what, it wasn't just I had this emotional experience and had this great college experience.

If that was just a little window of, you know, being idealistic, then it's got to measure up to the truth. Second, I'm not going to let someone I admire who's very, very smart intimidate me to give up my faith. And third, I made a commitment that I'm going to dig in. And whatever it takes, I am going to learn the questions he asked me about the Bible, about the uniqueness of Christ, archeology, science. I'm going to focus and do whatever it takes and I'm going to do the research. And then I'll let the chips fall where they may. I mean, if God's word and my faith can't hold up to scientific, archeological, philosophical research, then I'll give up my faith.

But if it does, then I will know this is really true. And really, the teaching in the series in the book that I wrote called Why I Believe is the culmination of that journey. And what I can tell you is, is that I've defended my faith in front of four PhDs. I've had the privilege of going around the world and different religions and philosophies. And here's my joy.

And here's my desire for you. You can trust God's word, you can trust the person of Christ. But we have to rethink how we communicate this and what our apologetic is. But now I have to tell you an experience that I had not too long ago. I was teaching on controversial subjects because, I mean, the morals have changed in America and the sort of lifestyles, LGBTQ and marriage and all these things are up for grabs.

And I was teaching at our church about what the Bible says about homosexuality and what it says about marriage. And I remember a little 15-year-old girl came up to me and she's a sweet girl. She loves God. I think she even went to our Christian school. I know her parents, very, very good people.

But she's grown up in a completely different culture. And she came up to me and she said, you know, Pastor Chip, I heard what you said. I know what the Bible actually says about homosexuality. I know you believe in the authority of scripture and all those things. I want you to know I love Jesus with all my heart, but I want to tell you something. If you're asking me to tell my friend who's gay that she's wrong or give up my faith, I'm going to give up my faith. And I mean, literally my mind was going, what?

What? In other words, I grew up and many of you have grown up in a world that there's logic, there's authority, there's the Bible, this is what it says. But she's grown up in a world when she has to choose between relationship and truth, absolute truth. She's lived in a world where you don't validate things by what the Bible says. You don't validate things by a person in authority like myself.

You validate it out of relationship and your experience. So here's what I want to tell you. The apologetics of the past have to be completely revised. We don't give up on all those reasons. I'm going to share some of those reasons. I'm going to help you understand why you can trust the Bible, why you can believe in the resurrection, why the God of the Bible is the most logical, clear, I mean, it answers the biggest questions of life. But I'm going to tell you, we can't keep doing it the way we're doing it because look at the evidence. I mean, just ask yourself, how is it going? The culture's changing, the world is changing, how is the church doing? Let me give you some of the bad news.

And I don't mean to be negative, but if you need awakened, then let's get awakened. Our rational answering of questions simply isn't working in our day. What's the public view of Christians right now? Hypocrites, sexual scandals in the Catholic church for decades followed by cover up, sexual scandals in evangelical Bible churches, Southern Baptist churches, major mega church pastors after decades of quote effective ministry now found out to have private lives. People are looking at Christianity and saying, we think you're bigoted, we think you're prejudice, we think you're irrelevant, we think you're intolerant, we think you're the problem.

The LGBTQ has very effectively reframed the entire argument, not around we have a sexual preference, but as a civil rights issue. And now Christians in our day are viewed as bigoted and prejudiced. And so there's this anti-Christian bias and it's popping up everywhere. A businessman in the Silicon Valley who was one of the founders of a major organization gave $1,000 to a cause, not putting anyone down, simply saying that I believe historically that marriage is between a man and a woman.

That went viral on social media and he was ousted in his company. Companies like Chick-fil-A that close on Sundays who are loving and kind and care about people, but who basically just hold to a traditional concept of marriage have now been moved off and outlawed in major cities like San Antonio or in universities. We're living in a world where giving logical answers to our kids and to our neighbors and to our friends no longer holds water. Christians are viewed in a very negative light. Therefore, the message of the gospel, in fact, the next generation has come up believing that they need to be so concerned about their friends and not be too forthright that they actually think it's wrong to share their faith if it might offend someone else.

It's into that world that we have a new apologetic. In the church, here's the changes. Currently, church attendance is down, Bible engagement is down. The moral decline, 60% of evangelical Bible-believing believers between the ages of 18 and 30 are currently in casual sex or sleeping together. Giving is at an all-time low financially. Per capita, it actually those during the depression gave more generously than today and that tells us something has happened to Christians' hearts.

Families are fractured. Divorce is about the same in the Christian community as the non-Christian community. We find that 68% of our children five years after they leave high school are abandoning the faith.

I mean, I could go on and on and on. We have the highest level of people who have no religious affiliation. Of those under 35, it's like 25, 30% of them have no religious affiliation and Generation Z, those coming up, literally, they don't know God, they don't know the Bible and Christianity is currently to them irrelevant. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And before we get back to today's message, is there someone close to you really wrestling with their faith right now? Do you wish you could do something to help them break through the distrust or skepticism weighing them down? Well, stick around after the teaching to learn about a pair of insightful resources designed to answer and resolve doubts.

Don't miss it. For now, here again is Chip. I mean, these are big, big issues. It's going to take more than opening the Bible and telling your kids or sitting down with a friend over a coffee and telling them, here's the five or six intellectual reasons why I believe in God's word or why I believe Jesus is the Savior of the world. It's going to take a bit of a different apologetic. We are much more like the first century than we are the last century. And what I mean by that is that many of us have grown up for quite a while where the culture agreed with what we believed. You know, it supported it.

The major institution supported it. And now we're living in a world that is more and more and more anti-Christian. So here's what I want to suggest. I want to suggest that we rethink, because of the change in the culture, our apologetic. Yesterday, apologetics were about what we believe and why. And it was aimed at answering the skeptic and his questions or her questions. Today, ready for this? I believe we need to aim apologetics first and foremost toward believers, especially young people, aimed at answering the questions that equipped them to keep their faith.

Something fundamentally is wrong with the current Christianity and the current church and the current faith when those inside our churches and our families are leaving the faith. Second, yesterday we needed to master facts and data and history to intellectually prove what we believe is true. Today, we need to model concern and compassion and a lifestyle that proves that what we actually believe is even relevant. Third, yesterday we needed to win the debate. In fact, remember the day when evangelicals and atheists would debate.

No one even wants to hear a debate. Today, we need to win an audience. We need to live in such a way where people are asking us, how do you have a marriage like that?

And how do your kids turn out like that? And how do you handle the adversity coming your way with such an amazing, kind, and loving attitude? Fourth, yesterday we communicated on a level playing field that presumed that truth was objective reality. Today, we communicate on the shifting sands of truth as a subjective reality.

I told you that story of that high school girl. What I want you to know is that this whole next generation and millennials, they look at life through different glasses. They don't look at facts and say, well, these are three facts, and these are logical, and therefore, this is right and that is wrong. They're evaluating truth not as an absolute, but something that's relative.

And it's why the experience of the collective group, it's what they feel. That's your truth. That's my truth. And so now as you begin to talk to people, I can give them five or six good reasons or scientific facts, and the response is that's your truth.

That's not my truth. Recently, a lady who I really admire, her name is Rosario Butterfield, and she was a teacher in elite school. She was a lesbian, and she made friends with a pastor. And he invited her over for dinner.

I don't mean just a few dinners, but it was months and months and then a couple years. And she often left and she said, it disturbed me. We disagreed about the homosexual lifestyle.

We disagreed about truth and epistemology and how you come at truth. And she was a literature professor and very, very, very bright. But she says, as they love me and love me and love me and I begin to examine what I believed and why, I begin to understand. God began to move in my heart. And so she goes to this prestigious university and she shares her testimony.

And if I gave you the name of it, most of you would say, wow, are you kidding? I mean, it's one of the elite sort of the Harvards of Christianity. And when she got done, students protested.

And here's what you need to get. They protested and the sign said, that's just your story. In other words, their comment was, yeah, we love Jesus, but now you're alienating people that are LGBT because she was a lesbian teacher who came to Christ, saw what the scripture said and says, now this is my new lifestyle. So what I want you to understand is that it's a whole different world and just facts, the shifting sand of relative truth means our apologetic and our way to do our apologetic has to change. Fifth, yesterday, the church and the culture shared a general knowledge of the Bible. I mean, you could talk about Adam and Eve or Noah or Jonah or Jesus or a few of his stories and people would go, yeah, I got you. Today, both the church and the world is biblically illiterate. I've had the privilege of teaching literally all across America and multiple places around the world. And I can't start anymore and assume that people know even the general idea of scripture.

It causes us to start at a different starting point. Six, a committed Christian man or woman in the past and yesterday was admired. You know, she's a woman of integrity. He's a man who loves God. He's a man who leads his family well.

I mean, that's the kind of person you want to be. Today, a strongly committed man or woman has actually been called dangerous. Recently, they were doing some appointments for court positions of very significant roles and they had Senate hearings and a couple senators came out. There was a lady who was a strong candidate and she happened to be a devout Catholic and she had very clear views on the life of the unborn. And it was just that, no, I believe life begins at conception.

I mean, the science is in. Even Planned Parenthood, when they don't talk about a fetus anymore and they talk about a baby. And two senators in our country in America said, this lady cannot be a judge in our court system because of her dangerous ideas.

It's a dangerous idea in America in our day to believe that an unborn child's life should be protected. Think of how much has changed in our world. Seventh, we used to be able to begin with the truth and then express grace. I mean, people believe that truth was absolute and we would say, this is right and this is wrong. Today, we must begin with grace in order to share the truth. What I want you to know is that the apologetic has to start with how you live and how you treat people and that we actually make an impact and we actually demonstrate that we deeply, deeply care.

It's not about a competing philosophy anymore. No one wants to hear what the Bible says or anything about Jesus until they see a life that's attractive, that's loving, that's caring. This is Living on the Edge, and you've been listening to Part 1 of Chip's message, Rethinking Apologetics for the 21st Century, from our series Dealing with Doubts.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Did you know there's a lot of solid, verifiable evidence that supports the truth of Scripture and the existence of Jesus? The real challenge lies in communicating that proof and the hope of the gospel to those sincerely seeking answers. So how do we do that? Well, in this series, Chip and guest teacher John Dickerson share ways to effectively and winsomely address honest questions about our faith that will attract people to the Bible, not repel them from it.

Also, we want you to have all the necessary tools for those conversations. So whenever you hear a book, podcast, or article mentioned in this series, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org and check out our resources page. We want to point you to relevant, biblically-grounded experts who will equip you to engage with the doubters and skeptics in your life.

Find that resources page at LivingOnTheEdge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's here in studio with me now, and Chip, after today's message, it's obvious how passionate you are about apologetics and helping Christians defend their faith. Why is this topic so important to you?

Here's the deal, Dave. Many Christians have been in church all their life, and they love God. They even read their Bible.

They go to church. But they really have never stopped to answer some of these tough questions and be able to articulate not just what they believe, but why they believe it. And the world is changing all around them, and they're finding themselves with friends or kids or grandkids who are saying, hey, I don't know that I believe this stuff that you believe. And they really need to know why they believe and have a resource that will really help them.

And that is exactly what we've done at Living on the Edge. We want to give them straightforward, clear, winsome and, can I say, kind of warm answers to answer some of these very tough questions. In fact, we got a letter recently from Michelle, and she talked about her experience that was so encouraging. She goes, wow, I'm doing this study on my own right now to better articulate what I believe for myself and, get this, to teach my 9-month-old when the time comes and to share with others. I absolutely do not have to throw my brains in the trash to believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've been raised in church, and I've been a growing Christian since middle school. I've attended church my whole life, but I've never seen a study like this. I love the facts and intelligent information, especially when it supports my beliefs.

Yes, our beliefs require faith, but it's so interesting to me to have so much factual, scientific information that God has given us. Here's the principle behind Michelle's comments. As a parent, it's your job to teach answers to these kind of questions to your children. Now, I'll admit Michelle was really planning pretty far ahead, but I also want you to know that it's never too late to start, to step in as a grandparent and take this series. It's simple.

It's clear. I just got an email this morning from a man in Florida who's become a believer in the last few months who's gone through the Why I Believe series, and he's given the book to his 12-year-old granddaughter. As they were talking, she said to him, I'm an atheist, but she really didn't know what the word meant, and he gave her that book, and they're going through it together.

Grandparents, this is the kind of thing that we need to do, and this is why we created this resource to help you answer these kind of questions to your kids, your grandkids, and your close friends. The moral and spiritual health of America does not look promising, but the difference will be the Church, and the Church will only be strong if we know what we believe and why we believe it and pass it on to the next generation. That's right, Chip. Sharing your faith with your kids and grandkids is so critical. In fact, we believe so strongly in that idea. During this series, we've bundled Chip's Why I Believe book with our friend John Dickerson's book, Jesus Skeptic. We pray that together these tools will prove that Jesus is real and the Bible is true and showcase the profound ways Christianity has shaped our world for the better. Learn more about this bundle by calling 888-333-6003 or by visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners tap Special Offers. Well, with that, here again is Chip to share a final word. As we close today's program, I think I need to clear up a misconception. Yes, we need to be prepared with answers, and we have to know the truth. And yes, we face some real challenges in our culture, but I want you to know God always changes one person at a time. And I just want to remind you that the average person is far more willing to listen to your answers than you might think if you have a real relationship, if they know that you really care. I know there's a lot of frustrated parents and grandparents and even youth workers that talk to me about, wow, you know, I give people eight reasons why I believe in the Bible or why I believe Jesus rose from the dead and it's like BB's off a tank. Well, it's a new day and it's a new world. And what I want you to know is that we're going to learn a lot of good answers and we're going to learn to winsomely share our faith and engage and communicate with the next generation. But I will tell you there is something that never, ever fails.

It's a four-letter word, but it's not a bad word. It's love. People long to be loved. People long for peace.

People's lives aren't working well. Whether it's teenage suicide or anxiety or family breakups, what the world is looking for, what people, what your neighbors, what your co-workers, what your grandkids are looking for, is someone who deeply cares and accepts them. Once you build that bridge, we will give you some tools to help them know about Jesus, the Bible, and eternal life. Stay with us.

I think this series is going to be a real help to you. Good word, Chip. Well, just before we close, I quickly want to thank those of you who regularly give to Living on the Edge. You're making a big difference in helping Christians live like Christians. But if you're benefiting from our ministry and haven't started giving yet, let me encourage you to join the Living on the Edge team. You can do that by setting up a recurring donation at livingontheedge.org or by calling us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate, and thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. We'll listen in next time as Chip picks up in his series, Dealing with Doubts. Until then, this is Dave Drouie saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.