Written by Dr. Mike Jaskilka (Instructor at NHCC)

It has been my privilege to teach Apologetics at New Hope for over a decade. One of the requirements in the course is that each student must engage in a discussion about Christianity with an atheist or agnostic and report on the encounter. It is one of assignments I most enjoy reading … and which some students find most terrifying.

A few years ago, one of my students was enjoying a coffee break at Starbucks with some of her friends. She lamented to them that she was unable to find anyone to interview. As she later reported in her paper, another customer overheard her concerns and kindly offered to be interviewed. My student was very grateful and relieved!

She decided to ask the woman her views on evolution and creation. It is a topic we cover in class as it is a major issue for many Americans who believe biblical creationism is a fairy tale and that evolution is the only possible explanation for the origin of life. My student asked if she believed evolutionary theory (yes, she did) and what she considered the evidences for evolution. Her answers were vague – the fossil record, her teachers had told her it was true, it made sense, etc.

Then my student asked if she had ever considered any of the evidences against evolution. There was silence. My student reported that the woman took on a glazed look, like a “deer in the headlights.” She had never heard of any evidence against it and apparently realized she had accepted the theory without any critical thinking. My student was excited to realize she had been successful in “putting a pebble in her shoe,” meaning she had gotten her to think about the issue rather than just regurgitate what she had always been told. (“Putting a pebble in someone’s shoe” is a concept covered in class as discussed by Greg Koukl in his book, Tactics.)

Other students have told me that they were terrified when they first learned of the requirement but were so changed by the experience that they could hardly wait for more opportunities to engage a “not-yet believer.” One confessed that the interview was the first time since she had come to New Hope four years earlier that she had talked to a non-Christian. She was thankful to be nudged out of her comfort zone and was determined to continue relationship building with the non-believing world.

Sometimes Christians reject the idea of apologetics thinking that a person is saved by grace through faith and therefore all we need to have is faith; knowledge just “puffs up.” But I like to point out that before any of us had faith, we had been given the ability to reason. Reasoning is part of the process that brings us to faith as Romans 1 reveals. One of the things that makes apologetics so interesting is that the exercise of our reason helps reveal the goodness, greatness, and trustworthiness of God.

That reasoning ability allows us to experience even more the wonder of God. Apologetics is a field that encompasses all aspects of life: logic and philosophy, science, mathematics, history, art, and music (someone once was asked why he believed in God and answered simply “Beethoven”).

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”