Apologetics and Jesus

J Warner Wallace (Cold-Case Christianity) has written Forensic Faith which has been endorsed by Gary Habermas among others.  Habermas is known for his great work defending the resurrection of Jesus.  Wallace makes the case for evidential apologetics.  Habermas considers the old earth/young earth debate a peripheral issue.  However, God's sovereignty implies a youthful world.  Habermas & Wallace should read our book YES - Young Earth Science.

Love God with your mind!  We read in Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  We should be willing to think hard on the difficult objections to those who doubt the Bible.  Here is a longer article we have written on the defense of the faith (Apologetics 101).  How do see evidence in Scripture?  Recall the encounter between Jesus & Thomas:

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (Jn. 20:27-29)

Thomas was clearly confronted with evidence.  Consider when the Assyrians about to attack Jerusalem.  Isaiah prophesied against the king of Assyria.  Listen to Hezekiah’s prayer:

It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.  They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.  Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God. (2 Kings 19:17-19)

God's actions in history prove the reality of the true deity.  Likewise, regarding the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea:

Pharaoh will think, "The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert."  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.  But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. (Ex. 14:3,4)

Do you have an Apologetics Study Bible?  It has many valuable notes and articles.  It's weak on Creation In Six Days (CISD), a Global Flood and a young earth, but quite helpful in many other areas.

Our assurance of salvation is a kind of apologetic:

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 Jn. 5:12,13)