Strengthening Believers The first reason to learn and practice apologetics is to strengthen believers, whether it be yourself or a friend. By uniting our hearts with our minds, we become bolder and more confident in what we believe. This intellectual confidence can help us stay grounded in times of doubt or in times of hardship where we may only hear a whisper from God, as opposed to a previous season in our lives when our faith experience may have been more emotional.
Winning Unbelievers We know from Scripture that nobody will be argued into the faith. However, apologetics helps us to deal with the doubts of those we are witnessing to, helping us to “remove the potholes on the road to the cross.” Apologetics helps us engage with people’s doubts, arguments or confusion in a way that points people to the truth of the gospel.
Shaping the Culture By learning and becoming versed in apologetics, we are helping to shape the culture around us in our homes, in our workplaces and in our social spheres. It is especially important that we as believers take this seriously as our culture slowly becomes increasingly post-Christian. Should every Christian indulge in apologetics? It is the duty of EVERY Christian to indulge in apologetics. It's not the work of a few selected people to indulge in a dialogue with others. Every Christian should have the knowledge about the essential theological, biblical, scientific and historic issues so that they could give a defense of the Gospel and discern false teachings. Apologetics helps to increase your Faith too. When you're going through hard times and God seems distant, apologetics can help you to remember that our faith is not based on emotions, but on the truth, and evidence. Our Lord said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Why would He say “mind” if it were based only on blind emotional faith? Think about it. There are professional and full-time apologists as well as professional and full-time evangelists. But all Christians are commanded to be both evangelists and apologists. The professional apologist is busy giving reasons for the faith, even when not asked, throughout his workday. But the ordinary Christian is commanded to be ready to give a reason for his faith and hope and love whenever he is asked. And this assumes that he will be asked. And this assumes that there will be something askable, something different about him. In other words, it assumes that his faith is not so small as to be invisible to unbelievers.
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