The Best Apologetics Strategy

The Apologetic Case for Starting with Creation and the Flood

Is there such thing as an atheist takedown? A question that stumps atheists every time? Well, yes, there actually is, and we'll get to that later. But first, we need to understand what's happening when these questions are even asked of atheists.

Imagine asking an atheist, if I am able to answer all your difficult questions, will you become a Christian? Receive Christ in your heart? The answer will most likely be no, and this is especially true for those who are hostile towards Christianity.

This unveils that there's something else going on beyond just the questions. Sometimes answering continuous streams of questions from unbelievers is like trying to put out a fire by throwing water on smoke.

It will never work. To put out a fire, you need to get to the source, the fuel for the fire. You see, without a change of heart, little progress will be made converting atheists by winning arguments, even if your answers are slam dunks.

So then, why do apologetics in the first place? Well, the Bible admonishes us to always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. It also says that we must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition.

If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. This passage is clear that our job is to gently correct our opposition, but granting them repentance is God's.

Scripture is also clear that the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Now on to the best strategy, and then the best starting question.

Peter’s Warning About Scoffers in the Last Days

Peter the Apostle actually foretold the best apologetic strategy for today, and the Apostle Paul modeled this method for us 2 ,000 years ago at Mars Hill, in the most famous apologetic speech in history, with thousands every year visiting the place where he gave his address.

Peter knew Christ personally, was the leader of the 12 apostles, was the pillar in the early church, and was entrusted with bringing the gospel to the Gentiles, but he only contributed two small books in our Bibles.

In his second book, chapter three, Peter warns, above all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, where is this coming he promised?

Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation, but they deliberately forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens came into being, and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

By these waters, also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. Peter says, above everything that he's written, that we should understand that in the last days, scoffers will come and deliberately forget two things, that God created the world by his word and out of water, and that by these same waters, the earth was judged and destroyed.

Can you think of two topics that are more scorned or deliberately forgotten and denied these days than creation and the biblical flood? Our culture today parades scoffer after scoffer that go after these two things specifically.

In fact, graduation requirements for college students today include completing several classes that emphasize denying these two very things, creating waves of students, including Christians, who deny both a special creation and worldwide flood.

Could it be that Peter spoke these warnings for our very generation today? Next, consider the apostle Paul. Paul studied under the leading scholars of his day and was rigorously qualified as a Pharisee.

He knew the Old Testament inside and out and was even chosen by Jesus to lay down the gospel for the Gentiles, lasting up until even today. Certainly, there was no better presenter to pitch the gospel to the philosophers of his age.

Paul’s Mars Hill Strategy in Acts 17

Let's see just how he did this during his famous Mars Hill address recorded in Acts 17. But first, some background. Paul was being called out by the great debaters of his day. The Epicureans taught that everything on the earth had evolved directly from earth's material and the Stoics were pantheistic, which is just another form of evolution.

While they worshiped idols as gods, they believed that even the gods themselves evolved from some primordial substance. Thus, Paul's audience was not much different from ours today. What was Paul's strategy for reaching this group?

Well, he started with Genesis, stating, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious, for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.

Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you, God, who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things, and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Paul's very opening address weaves several passages from Genesis to frame the very foundation of his gospel presentation. So how does this apply to us today? Peter says that the end times battle on the apologetics front will be convincing those who deny creation and the flood, and Paul modeled such an argument even in his day.

While finding answers to the philosophical questions surrounding our faith is also important, many are missing the core topics, creation and the flood. In fact, the fire behind their questions would subside if the source was addressed.

That of discovering that the intelligent designer they know deep down exists is the God of the Bible, the one who created and later judged the world by a flood. Just imagine if Jesus returned today, filled a theater with skeptics, and played a movie rewinding earth history back through the flood and into the days of creation.

After awakening to the reality of these two events, would these skeptics still be so obsessed about many of their esoteric and philosophical questions? Probably not. So we have good biblical support for making creation and the flood the main thing in apologetics.

Taking this strategy will save Christians time from chasing their tails with endless questions and get to the root of the issues that keep many away from considering our faith. Now on to the most effective question.

The Origin-of-Life Question and the Limits of Naturalism

It's simply this. How did non-living matter become alive? You see, many Christians are beat up by atheists, claiming we only have blind faith in some unseen God. But atheists have faith in something even bigger.

Nothing started everything. Question for Richard Dawkins. The big bangers believe that once there was nothing, then suddenly, poof, the universe was created from a big bang. If I have nothing in the palm of my hand, close my fingers, speak the word bang, then open my fingers again, still I find there is nothing there.

I ask you to explain to us in layman's terms how it is that something as enormous as the universes came from nothing. Of course it's counterintuitive.

That you can get something from nothing. Of course common sense doesn't allow you to get something from nothing. That's why it's interesting. It's got to be interesting in order to give rise to the universe at all.

Something pretty mysterious had to give rise to the origin of the universe. Now, it is very mysterious how the universe came into being. It's a deeply mysterious.

And interesting question. But the trouble, well there are many troubles with Richard's teachings, but a fundamental one is that he dumbs down God and he soups up nothing.

So you can dispute exactly what's meant by nothing, but whatever it is, it's very, very simple. And why is that funny?

Well, I think it's a bit funny to be trying to define nothing.

While they claim that so-called science supports evolution, scientists cannot demonstrate today, using observational science, how life even got started. They completely evoke faith for this and rely on historical science to build a tapestry for their belief in evolution.

Their position even gets more challenging when they contend that such early life form found something to marry, reproduce itself, and then lead to all varieties of creatures today. Creatures that are made up of protein-building DNA instructions.

Instructions that make up, by anyone's admission, the most complicated intelligent language in the universe. Despite thousands of documented attempts to get even the very basic components of life started, projects like the Miller-Urey experiments eventually fail, and scientists openly admit that they don't know and cannot replicate how life got started.

Science remains undecided and conflicted as to the exact origin of life, and there may be many hypotheses on the possible ways that life might have begun.

Laying out this challenge to a skeptic clearly shows they are relying on even more faith than Christians. We have faith that a personal intelligent designer started life on earth, according to the Bible's narrative.

They have faith that nothing started everything by chance. Honest and humble skeptics will realize this leans the playing field far, far in our direction in any debate on these topics because it's much more believable that an intelligent designer created life.

Just look at the finely-tuned universe. You can't change anything about the planets, gravity, orbits, or distances and still have life on earth. And consider our amazing bodies. All five of our basic systems need to be there from the start.

Our hearing system is obviously designed, complete with five interconnected components that have to be fitted in a certain order by a designer. It quickly becomes apparent to the honest person that we are engineered.

This is why Romans 1 states that people know the truth, but they just willingly suppress it. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. This is yet another passage that is clearly proving true today.

Even so clearly that the Smithsonian displays a golden four-footed rat-like creature as our earliest mammal ancestor placed on an altar within a shrine of sorts. Moving on to the flood, we find yet another biblically historical event that is plain as day.

The evidence for the flood is quite obvious. Just consider this three-country and fourteen-state region in the middle of America that is filled with dead dinosaurs mixed with marine life buried under hundreds of feet of mud.

Just the Morrison Formation alone is 700 ,000 square miles and contains fossils of dozens of dinosaur varieties buried in a mud layer over 300 feet thick that spreads across 13 states. Isn't that an obvious starting place for discovering the flood?

For those needing more proof on this topic, we have many videos that cover the flood. Yes, apologetics on other topics is certainly also useful in many instances. Answering a variety of questions is a good way to break up rocky soil before planting gospel seeds.

But remember, some plant, some water, but God alone makes the seed grow. We do, however, encourage our viewers to first evaluate whether your skeptic friend is open to a dialogue. We mean really open.

Sometimes their questions indicate more of a heart issue than a head issue. Evaluate where they are humbly seeking answers to honest questions they have or if they are just trying to argue. Starting first with the how did non-living matter become a live question will reveal where they stand.

When it comes to dismantling evolution theory, remember that the word says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

The Four Main Objections to Evolution

Just what are these high things that exalt themselves against God? We completed a research project with hundreds of subjects that reveal the four primary reasons why people believe in evolution. These are human evolution, Darwin's theory proper, fossils and transitions, and science as an authority.

Arming yourself with how to dismantle these four topics is a great place to start and we have resources for each in the description of this video. In closing, we would like to share why we make these videos.

Repentance, Faith in Christ, and the Call to Trust God’s Word

For those who are already Christians, we hope these videos strengthen your faith. It's important that Christians know they can trust God's word all the way back to the beginning, especially in a world saturated with evolution teaching.

To those being drawn to faith in Christ, trusting in God's word is part of that process. Even though you might not fully believe in these things now, we pray you will grow in trust and understanding that God's word is both scientifically and historically credible, all the way back to the beginning.

Your faith journey begins with repentance and turning away from your sins, realizing that Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. In the words of Jesus, most assuredly, I say to you, He who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

We encourage you to take this first step to a new life. Looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation, the fossil record, dinosaurs? Download the Genesis Apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and more.