Kerby Anderson

Christians have always needed to know how to defend the Christian faith ever since Peter admonished us to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” That is even more true with so many people skeptical about God, Jesus, and the Bible.

Douglas Groothuis and Andrew Shepardson are the co-authors of an introduction into classical apologetics with the title, The Knowledge of God in the World and the Word. The primary focus is to put forth various arguments for the existence of God and then finish with a defense of the Bible and a presentation of the truth about Jesus and His resurrection. Here is a summary of just three of the chapters in their book.

The cosmological argument recognizes the relationship between cause and effect. This then points to a First Cause of the cosmos that is transcendent to the cosmos. This argument is even more powerful now that scientists believe the universe had a beginning.

The moral argument derives from the realization there must be objective morality. If God did not exist, then objective moral values and duties would not exist. But they do exist and point to God’s existence.

The design argument claims that God’s fingerprints can be found all over creation. William Paley proposed this argument, but scientists in the 19^th century and early 20^th century dismissed it. However, we now see what has been called the “return of the God hypothesis” because of the discovery of the fine-tuning of the universe.

In my interview with the two authors, I mentioned that more and more scientific evidence has accumulated to bolster some of these arguments. No wonder some have described us as living in the golden age of apologetics.