A little over 2 years ago, when my wife was pregnant with our first daughter, I remember waking up one day and realizing I wasn't prepared. This wasn't about finances and baby products (although there were plenty of concerns about those as well), this was about being the spiritual leader of a household. This was about knowing that I needed to be able to answer my daughter's questions about our beliefs when the world around us, her friends, and even her teachers start telling her that Christianity is outdated, illogical, or obsolete.
First things first, I had read a good deal of the Bible, but honestly couldn't say I had read every bit of it. If I was going to defend the Bible, I sure as heck needed to know what was in it. I started a full bible read-through at this point. Not long after my daughter was born the Life Group that we attend through church watched a presentation on apologetics by Sean McDowell. I recognized his name. My father owns a copy of Evidence that Demands a Verdict by his father Josh McDowell. I had read a bit of it growing up, but took the time now to borrow it and read it fully. Lots of good information is in it, but I definitely wanted more.
Sean had mentioned J. Warner Wallace in his presentation. I was intrigued by his description of Wallace as a Cold Case Detective who had examined the Bible in hopes of finding flaws in the Gospel accounts only to be convinced that it was true. I picked up his book Cold-Case Christianity and couldn't put it down. It was only a couple of days before I had read the whole thing.
Since then, I have read several other books on apologetics and watched many debates and presentations. Whether it's the philosophical perspective of Ravi Zacharias, the historical perspective of Michael Licona, or the scientific perspective of John Lennox, I love digging into apologetics of all kinds. One might say I'm a bit obsessive. In fact, in the past 2 years, I don't think I have read a book in my leisure time that wasn't related to apologetics or Christian history. I also have a wishlist on Amazon specifically related to this field. (It's really only for me to keep track of the books I want, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case I have a generous reader.) I've made one friend in this time who is as enthusiastic about apologetics as I am (More-so actually. He has his own apologetics ministry and podcast called Deeper Waters. On a side note, he has interviewed J. Warner Wallace several times in his podcast.). Nick Peters is a vocational apologist, and his father-in-law is Michael Licona who I mentioned earlier. The problem for me is that I spend a lot of time thinking about these topics, but I don't actually know many people who will discuss this stuff with me.
This is where Wallace's newest book Forensic Faith comes in. Whereas his previous books were focused on making the case for Christianity, this one is focused on making a case for apologetics. Aimed at Christians who already believe, this book encourages and equips believers to investigate their faith. To view the evidence for Christianity and be prepared to answer the tough questions rather than just playing into the secular notion that Faith and Reason are incompatible.
The book is broken into 4 chapters:
- Duty
- Training
- Investigation
- Communication
Duty:
This chapter basically asks the question "Are we called to present evidence for our faith?"
The short answer is yes. Wallace cites several times Christ himself appeals to evidence when speaking with his disciples. Jesus also commanded us to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind. He doesn't suggest we turn our mind off in reference to our faith.
Wallace cites several times in Acts when the early apostles presented evidence for their claims. And he lists a large number of early church fathers who had an evidential approach in their writings as well.
One of my favorite parts, though, was a comparison between two different passages when it comes to our duties as Christians.
First we have a piece from Paul's letter to the Philippians
Philippians 4:11-13
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ
As you can see, he clearly qualifies that not everyone has each of these duties; only some are called to each. This is contrasted with a passage from Peter's first letter.
1 Peter 3:15-16
But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.
Peter doesn't qualify this duty. He is telling everyone in Christ to defend their faith. The word "defense" used above is "apologia" in the Greek text. This word describes a formal defense like one would give in a court case. This is the word from which we get Apologetics (That's right, it doesn't mean we are apologizing). We are to be prepared to present a case for our beliefs.
Wallace also makes the point that EVERY religion will cite life changing personal experiences when asked why they believe, but Christianity is the only religion that actually invites us to investigate the evidence. If we truly believe the Gospel account is a real, historical account, then we shouldn't have any fear of investigating it.
Training:
The second section talks about training. It discusses the distinction between Teaching and Training. We tend to just teach. Wallace offers a 5 point acrostic for TRAIN that gives some crucial aspects to training.
T - Test
We should be challenging one another to figure out what aspects of our defense are the weakest so we know where to focus.
R - Require
Set high expectations of one another. Don't dumb everything down because you think your trainees cannot handle it.
A - Arm
Arm yourself with facts. If someone comes to you making false claims about Christianity, you need to know the truth in order to respond.
I - Involve
Get out there in some way. View the opposition and attempt to answer them.
N - Nurture
Sometimes we'll be blindsided. We need to support one another in these moments.
Investigation:
This chapter is the one I struggle the least with. The first point in it is basically that we need to read the Bible in its entirety before we can be prepared to defend it. As I mentioned earlier, this notion was already on my heart 2 years ago.
The second point is to understand the nature of evidence and what does and doesn't qualify as evidence. This was covered in depth in Cold-Case Christianity, but it was a nice reminder. People often buy into the belief that you need a smoking gun to have a case, but most cases are built on cumulative circumstantial evidence.
In this chapter, Wallace encourages us to be diligent and possibly even obsessive about our research. We spend time studying in other areas of our life or filling our minds with pop culture, why don't we put that kind of time and energy into studying our faith.
C.S. Lewis puts it best:
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
Communication:
This, to me, is probably the most valuable chapter. I understand my duty, I already desire to start training, I am obsessive about investigating, but I really haven't done much communicating. One of the reasons I decided to create this blog was just to get thoughts out of my head into a communicable format. As I mentioned, I don't have many people in my life who actually already want to talk about apologetics, and when I do talk to these few, I usually can't even recall any of the questions or thoughts that I was so excited about yesterday (I'm a bit disorganized inside and out.) I struggle to find every day opportunities to discuss my faith because I telecommute, so I don't participate in much water-cooler talk at work. And I don't have the personality to just approach strangers.
This chapter makes the strongest comparison between Christian case making and an actual courtroom. Wallace describes how the strategies of Jury Selection can be applied when deciding who to present your apologetic case to.
He then discusses how to make an opening statement, present evidence, and make a closing statement.
All strategies which I hope to find good use for.
Final Thoughts
This book would make for the perfect small group study. I've thought about the idea of an apologetics study for some time, and as much as I would love to do a deep dive into a specific field of apologetics, I'm not sure there would be enough interest in a study of that nature. That's why we need to make a case for making a case. This book wasn't what I expected, but I think it's much needed in the church.
We live in a time when more and more young people are leaving the church in their college years. There is just so much opposition to Christianity in our universities, and our standard church answers can't compete for our children's minds. Young people want answers not platitudes, and they don't want to hear them from some famous apologist, they want them from their parents and church leaders.
