FAITH

The word "apologetics" confuses many into thinking that it refers to some kind of
apologizing. Actually this word is not derived from the English world "apology", but
from the Greek word "apologia", which is a word referring to "making a defense".
Apologetics is a general term, signifying a formal defense of any kind. On the other
hand, Christian Apologetics is that branch of Christian theology that answers the
question "is Christianity believable". Integrated Apologetics stands for the special
approach developed by us in our course material where we integrate the best from
all schools of thought in Christian Apologetics.
In the past four centuries, all kinds of religious and spiritual beliefs have come
under intense attack at the hands of radical philosophers and critics. Of this assault,
the Christian faith has received the major portion because of a number of historical
reasons some of which will be mentioned later.
These criticisms against the Christian faith have received so much media coverage
that even a good number of well informed non Christians are aware of some of the
major charges labeled against the Christian faith. Interestingly, books published
against the Christian faith and sold from secular shops become bestsellers even in
countries where the buyers are not Christians. This is the result of all this adverse
publicity against the Christian faith.
Today all around us there is an atmosphere where criticism of the Bible and related
subjects is widespread. Most of the Christian students have to face these attacks
from other students in some form or other. It is quite common to meet Christian
college-students who are perplexed by questions that are hurled against their faith.
The volley of questions come with such high frequency that they find themselves at
a loss in answering even a portion of them all. Moreover, since most of them never
faced these questions before this assault, they usually do not know what to think
and what to answer. Further, they often fall into the trap of thinking that if they do
not know the answer, then correct or satisfactory answers do not exist.
Once a person erroneously concludes that answers do not exist for the questions
raised against the Bible, his own faith is the next victim. His faith in the inspiration,
authority, and the infallibility of the Scriptures suffer very much. He then finds
himself in a split mentality: he knows that it is these Scriptures which have brought
the message of true salvation to him, but at the same time he does not know what
all things written in this Book are believable !
Apologetics is the solution to this problem. A person who has some background in
the Christian apologetics can help this person to see the answers to the problems
and questions which he is facing. Further, a Christian Apologist can pass on
information to the doubting person, using which he can better face the people who
raise questions against the Bible.
The last four to five centuries have been a time in history when anti Christian
philosophies and thought patterns have flourished to the full extent in Christian
societies. Humanism, a philosophy in which man has been elevated to the position
of God, is the philosophy of the present times. It is the foundation of almost all the
present-day ways of thinking and education. Therefore, students who have been
brought up in any of the present day schools or colleges learns many things which
are contrary to the Word of God. By the time a person passes out of his college, he
accumulates hundreds of such ideas against the Christian faith.