Apologetics in Action - Lesson 1

Overview

Apologetics in Action: Foundations for Defending the Faith

Apologetics is simply the defense of the faith—and it matters because a persistent rumor circulates that Christians cannot or will not answer hard questions about what they believe. The truth is different: we have reasons for our hope, but we also have humility. You are not answering for God, and you are not required to have an answer for everything. Some matters remain mysteries of faith, and that is not a weakness. The first rule of Christian apologetics is that the Bible is the living, authoritative Word of God, and we stand under its authority rather than over it. Many skeptics know the words of Scripture without knowing the God of Scripture; our task is to bear witness to Him.

A few ground rules help us engage faithfully. Breathe—it is fine to slow a conversation down. You don't have to be the smartest person in the room. Apologetics is not a shouting match or a win-lose contest; a loving, peaceful faith deserves a loving, peaceful witness, even as we remain steadfast and refuse pluralism that would dilute the gospel. Above all, remember that you are not saving anyone. God saves, by His Word and Spirit, and we never know where someone is on their journey when the Holy Spirit grants us a divine appointment. Being grounded in solid doctrine is essential—otherwise, as one young saint put it, we're "taking on hell with a water pistol."

Working Through Common Objections

"Why would God need 122 finely tuned constants to sustain life?" God doesn't need anything; the question itself points to design. From the opening words of Genesis 1:1-2, God brings order out of formless void, separating, naming, and establishing. In Job 39, the Lord catalogs His intimate ordering of creation—the birthing of mountain goats, the freedom of the wild donkey—revealing a God of precision and care. The constants don't embarrass faith; they testify to it.

"If God is all-powerful, why such a flawed world—earthquakes, floods, disease?" Creation was made good. The brokenness we experience entered through sin. In Genesis 3:17-19, the ground itself is cursed because of human rebellion, and Romans 8 tells us creation groans under that weight, awaiting restoration. We must distinguish God's active will from His permissive will—as in the life of Job, God permits what He does not author, and works redemption through it.

"How can a just God punish humanity for what Adam did?" Sin is not merely an event in someone else's biography; it is a nature we inherit. Genesis 5:3 notes that Seth was born in Adam's likeness—no longer the unblemished image of God but the image of fallen man. We are all born with this sinful nature, and the wage of sin is death. But this very objection opens the door to the gospel: as sin entered through one man, salvation comes through one Man, Jesus Christ, who bore the wrath we could not bear.

"Why did the woman 'healed' on Sunday need her walker again the next week?" Sometimes the right response is to step back and examine the premise. The miraculous signs in Acts authenticated the apostolic preaching of the gospel and pointed unbelievers to Christ; they were not performances. God still answers prayer and can heal, but skepticism toward sensational claims is not unbelief—it's discernment. Good apologetics often means walking a question back to its assumptions rather than accepting a loaded framing.

Pastoral Encouragement

Don't be discouraged if your words don't come out eloquently. God has given you faith, and the more you study His Word, the more you will discover how much more there is to know—a never-ending, joyful journey. Pray for untied tongues and confident hearts, trusting that God's Word is always at work, and that the saving belongs to Him.

Transcript

Good morning and welcome to adult education. 1s

We are going to be studying apologetics in action. 6s

And apologetics we know is a defense of the faith. 11s

We might ask ourselves why is apologetics important or why should it matter. 16s

And one quotation I found on a website was where this atheist was trying to gather more evidence against Christianity and against the Triune God. 22s

And he says, as he's posting some more, he says, well here are some more questions. 38s

Thank you and please keep them coming. 43s

These are questions that Christians can't answer. 45s

And so it's important for us to have a defense of faith. 49s

It's important for us to take apologetics seriously because there is this false rumor that there is so much that Christians can't or won't answer. 56s

That we tremble at the thought of being asked anything or that we don't use reason or thoughtfulness in anything applied to faith. 70s

Now I want to preface this whole class by saying that apologetics can be very scary. 83s

And it definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone. 92s

I'm maybe you're like me and just not good at debate or really good under pressure. 97s

You know, 2 plus 2 is really easy until someone is standing there asking for an answer, answer, answer, answer. 103s

And then all of a sudden, 2 plus 2 becomes this giant mathematical equation that's so difficult to solve. 110s

Right? And that's how a lot of us feel about apologetics. 117s

That's how a lot of us feel when we're asked questions, especially when there is someone who is just asking question after question after question and won't give us a chance to gather our thoughts or take a breath. 121s

And that's one of the first things that we need to remember is that breathing is okay. 136s

Breathing is good. And it's okay to say, no, hold on, slow down and to take a breath for yourself. 141s

Also, we need to remember that we are not answering for God and you don't have to answer or have an answer for everything. 150s

And that's very different from saying there are things that Christians can't or won't answer. 162s

That's very different because there are some things that you as a Christian believer may not know yet. 168s

Or there's something very valid in the fact that there are mysteries of faith. 176s

And that's not wrong. And it doesn't mean that we are in the wrong or our faith is in the wrong. 185s

Remember that a lot of atheists, a lot of people who really fight against the Christian faith, they know scripture. 194s

They know the words in scripture, but they don't know God. 204s

They don't know the God of scripture. 212s

And this is where our first rule of apologetics always has to be that God's authoritative word, the Bible, is a living word. 218s

It is the living word of God. 233s

It's not for us to analyze, it's not for us to decide which is accurate or inaccurate, which is worth something, which is not worth something, it is God's word. 237s

And we have to stand under the authority of God's word. 253s

So this particular class, apologetics and action, this is not geared toward defending Lutheranism to the Baptist or the Catholic or another Christian denomination. 259s

This is really about defending the faith, the Christian faith to those who do not believe or who question or have questions about the Christian faith. 275s

With that, I think that we can see that vital importance of being in a theologically grounded and rooted church. 289s

And that's why Pastor Ibel and myself, we get very protective of theology. 300s

We get very protective of making sure that we are teaching and preaching from God's truth and under God's authority. 309s

So I love the quotation and this is one of our youths said this, but I think that she was quoting someone else, but she was talking about meeting some good, good, thick theology. 322s

And she said otherwise, we're just taking on hell with a water pistol. 337s

I love that. I think it's so wonderful. 342s

And it presents this imagery of how important apologetic is, but how important it is to be grounded and rooted in the word and in a rooted, a theologically rooted church. 345s

It's very, very important to be in a doctrinal congregation, a doctrinal church. 360s

Another thing, you don't have to be the smartest person in the room. 366s

We can all put apologetics into action. 371s

I can promise you that at any given moment in any given room, I am not the smartest person in it. 376s

And that's okay. It is all right. 384s

You may be the smartest person in the room and kudos to you. That's fabulous. 388s

But it's not a part of or a necessity in apologetics. 394s

Also, apologetics, a defense of the faith. 401s

You hear debate and you automatically go to our modern version of a debate, which is not a debate on thoughts, a debate on ideas, but its debate now has become this shouting match. 404s

That's not the witness that we want to bring as Christians. 421s

What kind of witness does that deliver? What defense do we have of our loving and peaceful faith if we are trying to shout someone down? 426s

Allow for questions to be asked. 440s

That doesn't mean that you're allowing rudeness or allowing cruelty or allowing someone to shout you down either. 443s

Everyone should be respectful of one another. 454s

That's in the Bible. Maybe not in those words exactly. 457s

But we love our neighbors. We treat our neighbors as we would like to be treated. 461s

It's also not a win-lose situation as far as you have to prove your point. 468s

You have to have this person shout uncle or cry uncle before you can talk to them about anything else. 475s

Apologetics is about presenting your faith. It's about defending what you believe, why you believe it, defending the faith that has been given to you. 484s

It's important to remain steadfast and firm in the faith. 496s

We're not giving allowances as far as, well, maybe you've got a point. 501s

I mean Buddha, he had his ups. We don't make allowances and allow for that universalism or plurality, pluralism to creep in to our own faith beliefs and faith. 507s

We know that faith has been created in us out of the mercy of God. 527s

He has called us into belief in him, into the life that he offers. 532s

And we don't know where exactly we are meeting other people in their journey. 539s

We know that there is at least a divine appointment in that place in time where they are having the opportunity to hear God's word, to hear the law and the gospel presented to them regardless of how it's presented, whether it's in natural conversation or if it's with an intentional let's come on and talk about this. 547s

We don't know where we're meeting this person in that journey of theirs. 572s

And so we don't know when or where the Holy Spirit will work, but we know that we have this opportunity, that this door has been opened. 579s

We know that we have been given a faith and we know that we have God's word. 589s

We have God's word and he is always at work. 595s

So remember, you are not saving anyone. 602s

God is, God does the saving, it's God's work and it's to God's glory. 609s

I think it's really important that we have kind of those ground rules so we don't get flustered or don't beat ourselves up if we don't know all the answers or say something that just it doesn't come out eloquent. 616s

Who's there, like every day? 636s

But you have faith. God has given you faith. 640s

And the more you study, the more you are engaged with His word, the more that you are engaged with Him in knowing Him more and more, the more you realize that there is so much more to know. 645s

And there are so many different ways that we can continue to grow in our faith. 661s

And so it's a never ending joyful journey for us. 668s

So apologetics in action. 675s

So we are going to take some of these questions. 679s

If you have specifically been asked questions about your faith and you say, I don't even want to engage. 681s

I don't know how to engage and this person seems like they just know everything they're talking about and I'm scared to talk to them about faith because here's little old me with just having belief and knowing that I love God and God loves me. 692s

And what more can I say if you have any questions that have come to you, please send them to me and we will try to tackle those together. 705s

My email is Malanak. That's M-A-L-I-N-A-K at LWLC.com or you can go to the website and find it there. You can link to it there. 715s

So I am happy to try to tackle some of these questions with you. 728s

I know that at least one of our brothers and sisters, one of us here at Living Word intentionally takes part in a conversation group, a discussion group of atheists and Christians that come together for the very purpose of having debate, having discussion. 735s

And so if you have any interest in something like that, I can certainly help you get directed to the right place. But anyway, so the first question that we're going to tackle is, why would God need 122 constants to provide life on earth? 756s

Constance are precise scientific conditions in which, if altered slightly, like the earth being just 1% closer to the sun, life on earth would cease. 779s

I think this is an interesting question that they place this as something that Christians won't or can't answer. 791s

I think that the constants and the very specific ordering of things, it really lifts up that our God is a creator of order, a creator that took that chaos of the nothingness, the chaos of the spans. 799s

Constance, if we go to Genesis 1, so that's the first book in the Bible, Genesis 1, and we start right at the beginning, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep. 818s

So this is this earth was this darkness void, there was chaos, there was nothingness. And God says, let there be light, and there was light. 837s

And he separated the light from the darkness, and he called the light day and the darkness he called night, and there was evening, and there was morning, and there it was the first day, and then we continue in verse 6. 850s

God said, let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome, and it was so, and he called the dome sky, and there was evening, and there was morning, the second day, and he continues through all six days of creation, resting on the seventh day, as you know, goes through all of it, putting order into everything, everything. 862s

So the very aspect is well thought out, well planned, put in very precise order, so it's not a why would God need 100, it's not that he needs, right? 892s

It's that he is a God, he's God of order, and of precision, and of making sure that life is sustained, he makes this possible. 906s

If you go to Job, which I find myself coming to Job all the time, this is just a fantastic book, and of course my favorite parts within Job are chapters 38 through 41, I believe that's right, yeah, 38 through 41 are my favorite. 919s

So anyway, that's beside the point, but if we look in chapter 39, so Job is, if you open your books, your Bibles to the center, you'll find yourself in Psalms, just go backwards, and that Job is right before Psalms. 938s

So if you go to Job 39, this is just a little bit of the order that we see that God has created, and he's asking Job, do you know when the mountain goats give birth? 956s

Do you observe the caving of the deer? Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch to give birth to their offspring, and are delivered of their young? 969s

The young ones become strong, they grow up in the open, they go forth, and do not return to them, who has let the wild ask go free, who has loosed the bonds of the swift as to which I have given this steep for its home. 981s

On and on with all of these very detailed questions of, do you know how this happened, do you know how that worked? 993s

And there are so many things, especially in that time, about the universe that were unknown, and so God through His grace has given us curiosity to learn more about His creation, curiosity, to find out what makes us up, how things work, to understand the 122, 1002s

122 constants that make life possible and sustainable. So I don't see that as, I don't see that question as something that Christians can't or won't answer. 1031s

But I think that, in the question itself, seems to lend itself to the proof that there is some intelligence within the design of our earth, within the design of all creation of the universe. 1048s

So I think that we can definitely say that we know God is a God of order, and we can continue down that path in further. I know that intelligent design and creation is something that a lot of atheists like to put out as proof, but I think when you get down to it, 1069s

and we can go deeper into that, when you consider creation, when you consider how everything works in this world, in this universe, there's so much thought to it. There's so much precision and order within it that proves and is one part of proof of God. 1096s

So the second question we're going to look at is, if God were all perfect and all powerful, don't you love that, how it begins, if this was true. 1124s

So if God were all perfect and all powerful, why would he do such a poor job and create such an imperfect world with its deadly earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, etc. 1139s

Okay, so there's no if about it. God is all perfect, all powerful, and he didn't do a poor job of creating. He did not do a poor job of putting this world together. 1156s

He did not create earthquakes and floods and hurricanes and tornadoes and droughts. All of creation suffers under the curse of sin. All of creation in Romans, it talks about how creation moans under the weight of sin. 1175s

And all of creation will be fully restored. When God first created, everything was good. Everything was as it should be. Everything worked with this synergistic relationship, everything won with the other. 1198s

And when sin entered into the world, we're going to go back to Genesis again, Genesis chapter 3. When we read of sin entering into the world through Adam and Eve, and the Lord curses, he curses, which he told them that there would be a penalty to sin, there would be a penalty if they ate of the forbidden tree. 1220s

The forbidden fruit. And he goes on to say how even man will not be in good relation with creation. He says to the man, this is in verse 17, to the man, he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. 1248s

Curse it is the ground because of you. In toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles, it shall bring forth for you. So all of a sudden we have Adam no longer subduing the earth and caring for the earth and having dominion over the earth and working in this nice relationship with all of creation. 1277s

But now we've got the earth popping up with thorns and thistles and he's toiling just to try to eat. And it's a difficulty that now has been put between Adam and creation. 1302s

You shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread until you return to the ground for out of it. You were taken and you are dust or you are dust into dust. You shall return. 1319s

So this is where we again come to that active will of God and permissive will of God. Does God actively will a tornado to destroy my house? No, no, he doesn't. 1334s

Do we live in a creation in creation that is still under the curse of sin? Yes, we do. Do do things happen? Yes, they do. And God allows for things to happen. 1355s

Again, think about Job. All of these things happen to Job. It's not that God willed for bad things to happen, but he permitted bad things to happen to Job. 1377s

So we have an imperfect world because sin entered into this world. We do not have an imperfect world because we have an imperfect God. God is perfect and God is merciful. 1395s

And in his mercy, even in the time when he was telling Adam and Eve that there would be this curse or that this curse is now upon them and upon all creation, he also was giving them that promise that they would be saved. 1412s

That mankind would be saved. Creation would be saved. So then this comes to another question. Our third question is if God is all just, how can he possibly punish mankind for what Adam did? 1434s

So this question, it's interesting. It's interesting. It also starts out with this if. So it's already presented with this, hey Christian, I'm going to go ahead and just make you doubt. Just a little bit. 1456s

And isn't that what the serpent did with Eve? Are you sure God really said this, really meant that? Are you sure if? So if God is all just, how can he possibly punish mankind for what Adam did? 1479s

Again, we come back to the sin that sin entered into this world. Adam and Eve were given the command to be fruitful and multiply before they sinned. 1497s

So they could have continued forever in living in the Garden of Eden, living in perfect creation. But they did sin. And that sin then entered into the entirety of creation. 1522s

And so all of creation, it's not that it is a punishment because of Adam. I mean, it is. It's the original sin. Sin entered into creation. But with that then we are all born with a sinful nature. 1540s

We are all born out of imperfection. And so if you think about in Genesis, we're going to spend apparently a lot of time in Genesis today in Genesis chapter 5. And I know we've talked about this before. 1563s

But in Genesis chapter 5, verse 3, we read when Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his likeness according to his image. And that son was Seth. 1582s

So no longer was anyone, Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. But Seth and all people afterward were created in the image of Adam, in the image of man, sinful man. And so we are born with that sinful nature. 1602s

And we know that the wage of sin is death. The punishment of sin is death. But this is where we have that promise that though sin entered in with one man, salvation enters in and is covered by one man, by covered by Christ. God, the God man. 1624s

So that actually, that question, I feel like that actually gives this wonderful opportunity to not only offer that law of sin and the wage of sin and that none of us escapes sin, but it also offers then that beautiful opportunity as a Christian believer. 1652s

And opportunity to share the hope and truth that we have in the salvation that we have received from Christ, that we aren't going to escape our sinful nature. 1676s

We aren't going to escape the propensity to sin on our own. We aren't going to seek not sinning on our own, but only by the grace of God. 1691s

So what we have to do is to do that. And also, part of God's godliness is his consistency and his justice. So if God sin has entered into the world, none of us can escape it. None of us are able to come to the Lord, except through him, by him, out of his grace or in his grace. 1708s

If he punished Adam and Eve alone, and yet that is when sin entered into all of creation, then he would no longer be a just or consistent God either, because we are all born with that sinful nature. 1738s

And so we need to trust in God and his justice and know that we don't know when and where he will work, but we do know that he is just. 1758s

We do know that he is consistent in his justice and that he has made it possible for us to escape the punishment of sin or to be saved from the punishment of sin, because Jesus Christ took that punishment, that wrath upon himself. 1780s

Now, I'm trying to think of why I have this marked. We'll probably get back to this next class time. 1800s

Okay, so I think this is my favorite question that we've had or that I've read so far. Why did the little old lady that God healed one Sunday need her walker to get around again next Sunday? 1810s

Well, she only temporarily worthy of a healing. Okay, so I love this question because it's setting up a premise that, and I'm assuming, and this may be my mistake, and if someone had come to me and asked me this question, I would ask for more details. 1828s

I would ask what these circumstances were because when I hear this, I immediately think of denominations that claim powers for themselves that ended with the apostles that claim powers for themselves that don't know what they are. 1848s

And actually happen, if you think, you know, when the apostles healed, when Jesus healed people, we don't hear of them being blind again, or being lame again, or, you know, whatever that healing, whatever took place. 1878s

And when you read through the book of Acts and you see these wonders and signs and miracles, they're happening to the unbeliever. And every time it happens, people crowd around. 1904s

And the apostles who have healed one are given that opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. So all of the miracles, all of the signs and wonders, they point, point us right to the gospel, and they validate the gospel message of Jesus Christ, the gospel truth of Jesus Christ as Savior. 1923s

As the Bible was put together, codified the apostles were dying, the miraculous healings ceased. It's kind of like the whole speaking in tongues, you'll have some religions now or some denominations claim that you have to be able to speak in tongues if you want to be a real Christian. 1952s

But then the tongues that are being spoken are gibberish. And to speak in tongues is to speak in a language, a real language that you have never studied. And for you to be able to speak to someone in that language that you don't know, and them to understand you. 1977s

And we see that in the book of Acts where on that first day of Pentecost, that first Pentecost, they go out into the crowds and they're speaking and everyone can understand the apostles in their own language. And the apostles hadn't studied different languages. And yet they were able to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ with all of these people. 1998s

So I would first honestly question the validity of the little old lady that God healed. I would question the, I would question it. 2023s

I'm sorry to say that I'm not actually sorry to say, but I'm very skeptical of a lot of those miraculous healings. I think that miracles can happen. I see them happen. I know that prayer works. I've seen prayer work. 2038s

So I don't, I don't discount God's ability to heal and God's ability to make miraculous things happen. But when we are talking about the, the like pushing on your forehead and pushing someone over in their heal, that's not, that's not, that's not. 2058s

So, no, so that question doesn't hold a lot of weight. And it's not a matter of whether we as Christians can't or won't answer it. 2083s

But we have to take it back a few steps and say what's going on here in the bigger picture. And that's something else. And this is where I find, I get very inspired when I watch and listen to really good apologetics. 2102s

I don't think that's a word, but we're going to say it's a word. Those who engage in apologetics, I really appreciate those who are very good at taking it back instead of, you know, someone saying, you know, answer this question. And it's, you know, a question we'll call it question D. And you've got someone who says, well, before we can answer question D, let's, let's go back to A. 2126s

And we're going to figure out A, B, C. And a lot of times the person who threw this question out there, there is no question D. Because A, B, and C, you walk through those and you see that it's resolved already. 2154s

So those, I will, I will try to have a good example of that. That is not my forte. So this is going to be a fun couple of weeks for me researching something on that. 2172s

But those are really, really fun to watch good apologetics, taking it back. And that's what we would do with this. We would take this question back and say, okay, this is not the question we're starting with. Let's, let's go back, see what we're talking about with this lady. 2188s

And where she was and what the circumstances are. So anyway, I hope that is a little bit helpful. We are out of time for right now. But we have two more class times together. And we're going to dig in deeper. I'll have some more fun questions. And I will have at least one, if not more, good examples of where we can pull back the question. 2207s

And, and, and bring that a common question and bring it back a couple steps. So we forgot to open in prayer, not we. I, I forgot to open in prayer. My confirmation kids are always, always getting me on that. But we don't forget to end in prayer. 2236s

So let us turn to the Lord in prayer now. Lord, we thank you so much. We thank you that, though you have called us to defend our faith, the faith that you have so graciously given to us, we know that we rely on you for your truth. 2253s

We rely on you to present your truth. And however you use us for that, we thank you. And we ask that, that you would lead us and guide us in our studies of your word in our studies of the doctrine and the theology that you have given to us throughout the history of the church. 2271s

Lord, we ask that you would keep our tongues untied when people start asking us questions and that you would, that you would give us confidence to share the faith that we have and to share your goodness and your graciousness. 2297s

Lord, we lift all of this to you, giving you thanks and praise always through the blessed, holy and beautiful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 2315s

All right. I will see you in two weeks when we are going to take some more apologetics in action. All right. God bless. 2324s

Amen. 2345s