Apologetics and Teenagers

[ReigningKing]

By now, most of you know that I am a teenager (kind of rare for these boards, but I digress.)

I was wondering if there were any of you that know any good websites for teenagers interested in the field of "defending the faith" or apologetics?

I'm getting fairly interested in this area of ministry. I know many people that ask me questions at my high school about Christ, about the Bible, etc. Most of these people are proclaimed 'ex-Christians'
(sounds funny, I know) and they challenge me about my faith. Of course, the first and foremost thing is to look in the Word, which I do, but not nearly as much as I'd like (something I'm working on)
What I'm wanting to know, however, is how should I go about answering them in a manner that doesn't involve bashing them verbally, or what have you?

Thanks, and may His love be upon you.

Todd

[Diggindeeper]

I am not one that knows of those boards, but I'm sure they are out there, somewhere.

You can learn lots right here, tho. From all the discussions here.

I'll pray that God gives you the answers as you need them. It seems to me that you have a special calling on your life like one of my sons and later a grandson. They BOTH were instrumental in starting a Christian Club at their schools! Talked to their principals and found teachers who would 'be there' for the meetings before or after school hours. They are out of school now, but those clubs are still going!

[ReigningKing]

I am not one that knows of those boards, but I'm sure they are out there, somewhere.

You can learn lots right here, tho. From all the discussions here.

I'll pray that God gives you the answers as you need them. It seems to me that you have a special calling on your life like one of my sons and later a grandson. They BOTH were instrumental in starting a Christian Club at their schools! Talked to their principals and found teachers who would 'be there' for the meetings before or after school hours. They are out of school now, but those clubs are still going!

I actually did that Sophomore year. We made a club. But, sadly, it wasn't kept in check, and we closed it.

[Al_S]

By now, most of you know that I am a teenager (kind of rare for these boards, but I digress.)

I was wondering if there were any of you that know any good websites for teenagers interested in the field of "defending the faith" or apologetics?

I'm getting fairly interested in this area of ministry. I know many people that ask me questions at my high school about Christ, about the Bible, etc. Most of these people are proclaimed 'ex-Christians'
(sounds funny, I know) and they challenge me about my faith. Of course, the first and foremost thing is to look in the Word, which I do, but not nearly as much as I'd like (something I'm working on)
What I'm wanting to know, however, is how should I go about answering them in a manner that doesn't involve bashing them verbally, or what have you?

Thanks, and may His love be upon you.

Todd

I don't think you can ever go wrong with steering any discussion back to the gospel. In sharing with people, I've noticed that people love to chat about all sorts of things. We can talk about evolution, other religions, etc. and they'll keep talking all night. If you bring up something that would shake their belief, they'll hop to another topic--anything to avoid discussing the truth of the gospel. Don't get me wrong, it is good to know where someone comes from, but debating evolution, reliability of scripture, etc. all day won't take them to a place where they will be confronted with Christ. Taking them to the gospel message directly puts them in a place where they can't avoid the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Sharing the changes God has made in your life is another area they can't debate. It's a spiritual battle and bringing them to the heart of the matter is crucial, imo.

Ravi Zacharias has a number of great apologetics books out and his site is RZIM.org. Answersingenesis.org seems to have a lot of god information too.

[TrustGzus]

Hey RK,

The first mistake I think people make is gearing ministry stuff towards teens by dumbing it down. They don't give you guys enough credit. With that in mind, I won't recommend "teen" sites. The best places to go for apologetics in my mind are reasonablefaith.org and str.org.

Grace & peace,

Joe

[Hunter121]

By now, most of you know that I am a teenager (kind of rare for these boards, but I digress.)

I was wondering if there were any of you that know any good websites for teenagers interested in the field of "defending the faith" or apologetics?

I'm getting fairly interested in this area of ministry. I know many people that ask me questions at my high school about Christ, about the Bible, etc. Most of these people are proclaimed 'ex-Christians'
(sounds funny, I know) and they challenge me about my faith. Of course, the first and foremost thing is to look in the Word, which I do, but not nearly as much as I'd like (something I'm working on)
What I'm wanting to know, however, is how should I go about answering them in a manner that doesn't involve bashing them verbally, or what have you?

Thanks, and may His love be upon you.

Todd

Might I ask what is the "defending the faith" ministry?

[Nobunaga]

Here is a good site and here is another.

[ReigningKing]

Might I ask what is the "defending the faith" ministry?

Apologetics = 'defending the faith'

'defending the faith' = 1 Peter 3:15

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

[Hunter121]

Ok so if i were to say, "why are you a Christian" you would say...

[robertvroom]

There is a Face Book page dedicated to apologetics if you are interested. There are folks ranging from high school students to 20+ year university professors & published authors. Most of us fall somewhere in between. If you are interested, you can friend me by searching for robert@jesusproofs.com and I will recommend you to the group.

[Nihil Obstat]

Honestly, I don't consider apologetics to be the way to prove your faith. Apologetics is great to strengthen the church, but it's not bits of information that's keeping the wicked from being saved. (Gnosticism would love for us to believe that this is the case, though.) What the lost need to hear isn't "a case for a creator" or any of that. What the best witness to the unsaved is, is to hear your testimony of how God freed you from your sin and to see your continual loving obedience to Jesus. No one can be (or was meant to be) argued or convinced into the kingdom. Your classmates don't believe you because they love wickedness, and don't want to be accountable for their sinful actions. Those "ex-Christians" may have never truly been saved, or have been deceived away from the faith, or are using that as a cry for help, or whatever (there's no easy answer when it comes to people). It's hard to get mad at them for being taught wrong, or for being deceived, or for not knowing how to ask for help, you know what I mean? And you can't feel self-righteous in their presence because you were saved by grace, not by your works (or why then did Christ die?), nor by your intellect or insight. These ones need your verbal prayers where you ask for them by name (not that God needs an "address", but so that your heart becomes knit to seeing them as they are and who they can be in Christ); they need a standard to follow in the thick of the fight; they need a shining lamp to guide them through the darkness. More knowledge can't give them what they need, unless that knowledge is the awareness that we as humans are enslaved to sin and condemned to death without Jesus, who alone liberates those who put their trust in Him from sin and gives to them life everlasting. - Ben

[Digital_Angel_316]

Todd:

* Why not give us a list of the 20 top questions you get, and we can work on a tract here by interaction. [site reminder that posts may become property of bibleforums, so you can copyright your answers here - but that is an aside].

* Have you read the Bible through in it's entirety -- do that.

* Have you considered additional training, informal, semi-formal or formal as you increase your interest and ministry? There are online and correspondence courses that are for personal edification only, those that offer a sort of completion certificate, the more semi-formal and formal offer affiliation or accreditation of curriculum and certificates and degrees.

[Boo]

Honestly, I don't consider apologetics to be the way to prove your faith. Apologetics is great to strengthen the church, but it's not bits of information that's keeping the wicked from being saved. (Gnosticism would love for us to believe that this is the case, though.) What the lost need to hear isn't "a case for a creator" or any of that. What the best witness to the unsaved is, is to hear your testimony of how God freed you from your sin and to see your continual loving obedience to Jesus. No one can be (or was meant to be) argued or convinced into the kingdom. Your classmates don't believe you because they love wickedness, and don't want to be accountable for their sinful actions. Those "ex-Christians" may have never truly been saved, or have been deceived away from the faith, or are using that as a cry for help, or whatever (there's no easy answer when it comes to people). It's hard to get mad at them for being taught wrong, or for being deceived, or for not knowing how to ask for help, you know what I mean? And you can't feel self-righteous in their presence because you were saved by grace, not by your works (or why then did Christ die?), nor by your intellect or insight. These ones need your verbal prayers where you ask for them by name (not that God needs an "address", but so that your heart becomes knit to seeing them as they are and who they can be in Christ); they need a standard to follow in the thick of the fight; they need a shining lamp to guide them through the darkness. More knowledge can't give them what they need, unless that knowledge is the awareness that we as humans are enslaved to sin and condemned to death without Jesus, who alone liberates those who put their trust in Him from sin and gives to them life everlasting. - Ben

I must offer the story of how I decided to listen to the words from scripture. I am the type of person who really hates to be "suckered in." It has happened to many times in my life, and I will turn a deaf ear to anyone who cannot show me why I should listen to him or her.

It was the same way with the Bible. Unless I had reason to believe that the truth was contained between the covers of that book, I refused to heed the message.

Witnessing the lives of Christians gave me the interest to do the research, but I can tell you that it was the study of apologetics that freed me to read the scriptures. I had to overcome my fear of being duped by a fairy tale. Don't discounty apologetics. It is a very necessary study for people like me. i would not have found Jesus without it.

[moonglow]

Apologetics = 'defending the faith'

'defending the faith' = 1 Peter 3:15

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Amen. Apologetics IS for those seeking...anyone that has questions, even if it seems hostile or a challenge. It is useful too of course for Christians that have questions because so much misinformation floats around. As that verse says..'give an answer to everyone...'

A great site to quickly look up some of those questions is CARM. He also has a section on other religions..why they are different then ours. And 'bible difficulties', like 'If Jesus is God who did He pray to in the garden?' Among many others. Reading these too will give you a greater understanding as you read the bible too.

Good luck!

God bless

[HisLeast]

By now, most of you know that I am a teenager (kind of rare for these boards, but I digress.)

I was wondering if there were any of you that know any good websites for teenagers interested in the field of "defending the faith" or apologetics?

I'm getting fairly interested in this area of ministry. I know many people that ask me questions at my high school about Christ, about the Bible, etc. Most of these people are proclaimed 'ex-Christians'
(sounds funny, I know) and they challenge me about my faith. Of course, the first and foremost thing is to look in the Word, which I do, but not nearly as much as I'd like (something I'm working on)
What I'm wanting to know, however, is how should I go about answering them in a manner that doesn't involve bashing them verbally, or what have you?

ON "TEEN FOCUSED" MATERIAL
I'd skip the "teen focused" stuff move on to universally decent apologetic material. This is my own experience talking, but I found the "teen" stuff dumbed down. I was really into it in my own teen years, but when I hit university and started talking to REAL thinkers, most of the crappy teen commentary I had consumed up until that point was a pretty pathetic tool. Lucky for all of us, the best apologetic material out there is just as accessible for a teenager as for adults.

LEARN FROM REAL APOLOGISTS
Apologists come in two flavors: (i) people who care about and listen to their audience and (ii) those who couldn't care less where the audience is coming from. Get acquainted with the top thinking apologists in category (i). You might start with Timothy Keller's "The Reason for God". It's a good primer for the most common arguments against Christianity. NT Wright's "Simply Christian" presents the essence of Christianity without sounding cliche and half-sincere. Read anything and everything by Ravi Zacharia (and watch the many videos he has on Youtube). If you want to go into really deep philosophical territory, you could read Alvin Plantinga... but his stuff is what you might call "PhDEEP".

So in summary:
Timothy Keller (esp. The Reason for God)
NT Wrigth (esp Simply Christian)
Ravi Zacharia
Alvin Plantinga (but only if you want to go DEEP)
CS Lewis apologetic works (esp Problem of Pain and Merely Christian)
Francis Schaeffer
William Lane Craig

... are all good places to start.

KNOW YOUR MOTIVATIONS
I don't want to make any assumptions about you. I know there was a phase in my life where I was REALLY stoked about apologetics. Looking back, if I'm totally honest, I was more interested in proving something to myself than doing real apologetic work. I had more passion than reason, and ultimately I fell into group (ii) from above. I know I've alienated at least a couple seekers because, in my self absorption, I couldn't understand why the "square peg" of the canned answers I was giving didn't fit the "round hole" of their actual question.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING
Prepare yourself to really, genuinely, listen to those you engage with. Sharing the gospel is not a strategy game where you can provide canned answers to neatly categorized questions. There are powerful and dare I say thoroughly legitimate reasons and feelings that cause people to reject Christianity. "Knowing the answer to their objection" isn't always what's needed. Sometimes you have to understand where they're coming from in a real visceral way.