I am passionate about defending Christianity to its critics. It was through Apologetics that God kindled my faith in a way it had not been before. There are, however, some concerns I have for the Church with respect to the apologetic task and some strategies that I think will be beneficial for the cause of Christ. Before I elaborate, it will be important to define some terms that are relevant here. Apologetics is the task of giving a rational, evidence-based justification for Christianity's central claims. An argument - in this context - is not having a verbal fight with someone but is attempting to justify one or more claims about something.

An example would be this: "I am rooting for the Eagles in the SuperBowl because they have an excellent defense and they have an outstanding running game." It is without question that perhaps many will disagree with certain points that I will make. That is fine. I do not claim to be infallible. I could be mistaken about what I am about to say even though I am confident that I am right. I just hope that at least some things I say will be beneficial to the Body of Christ.

The Church has put too much emphasis on critiquing the theory of evolution.

When I was taking an introductory class at my school, the professor talked about how an evolutionary approach to human origins - including human value - was the logical underpinnings of horrific events like the Holocaust and the eugenics movement. Of course, there are even modern day scholars who have attempted to justify actions like abortion, euthanasia, and experimentation on human embryos because - in their minds - they are convinced that is permitted by an evolutionary account of human nature. Secondly, many believers hold that if the seven days of creation are not interpreted literally but permit longer periods of evolutionary development for life on earth, it calls into question whether human beings have souls.

I have some reservations about this. First, it seems that evolutionary theory is really a distraction from the real problems that confront the faith. The real problem in my mind is materialism or physicalism about human beings.

Materialism states that human beings are ultimately physical things. Accordingly, that seems to rule out the claim that human beings are special in some way or are qualitatively different from other animals. For a long time, it was believed that the rational soul was the earmark distinctive component that separated humans from other animals. But once Darwin claimed that human beings are only quantitatively but not qualitatively different from non-human animals, you can put us in the same overall evolutionary story with the rest of the animal kingdom. Materialism, not evolutionary theory per se, seems to be a serious threat to the faith.

The Church is inadequately prepared to defend the pro-life position.

In this context specifically, I am talking about evangelical churches in a wide spectrum of denominations: Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and even Non-Denominational churches. In any context of an evangelical church, including a class that I took that covered the abortion issue, I have never heard a pastor give a sophisticated defense of the pro-life position. At best, there were a few Scripture references that were cited and maybe a few Christian authors to bolster the main points. But overall, there was very little engagement with serious pro-choice critics and illuminating the best pro-life arguments that are out there. I am convinced that the evangelical church overall is not well prepared to defend the pro-life position because - as far as I am concerned - many believe that Scripture is their primary source for arguing against abortion choice.

It seems almost as if hardly anyone can know that abortion is wrong unless they are born again and if they believe in the authority of Scripture. I cannot go into detail on this but I will state one reason why I do not think this is biblical even though it seems very popular. The Bible says in Romans 1 that God has written the moral law on the heart of every individual in the world. People still have knowledge of the moral law despite the obvious presence of human depravity. Thus, it is perfectly appropriate and perhaps mandatory to give reasoned moral arguments against abortion choice that do not assume or rely on the authority of Scripture. After all, if the moral law and Scripture are in harmony with each other, this should be no issue.

There is hope for the Church.

I have a few suggestions that I think are helpful to improve the Church's apologetic task as part of the broader evangelistic commission that Christ gave to the apostles. First, the Church needs to be well knowledgeable of the different arguments on current contentious issues that are still being debated. There are a wealth of resources on defending the pro-life position and defending the traditional view of marriage. As a side note, it was not through reading a theological defense of marriage but rather a philosophical defense - that comes from the natural law tradition - of marriage that bolstered my conviction on what marriage is. The same was true about the abortion issue. Books like "The Case for Life" by Scott Klusendorf, "Defending Life" by Francis Beckwith and "What is Marriage?" by Robert P. George were paramount in bolstering my convictions on the issues.

Second, the Church needs to repent for its widespread disdain and disregard for philosophy. In some circles it is often said, "I don't want human wisdom or knowledge about this issue, I want what God has to say."

As pious and super-spiritual as this might sound, it is utter rubbish to put it mildly. All truth is God's truth whether from a believer or a pagan. Human reason is a divine gift that is to be used for the glory of God and it can be used properly and misused. It also has its limits. I have never believed that human reason can solve all disputes or always be enough to bring someone to the Lord. Philosophy is simply a human endeavor to know why one believes what he believes. Christians can appreciate the insights and arguments that do not depend on Holy Scripture.