Of the various “word” ministries within the body of Christ, four are sometimes confused with one another: preaching, teaching, evangelism, and apologetics. In general, one could say that:
The goal of a teacher is to help Christians grow in their faith and knowledge of the Word.
The goal of a preacher is to present the gospel to those who are seeking and to strengthen believers' walk.
An evangelist restricts his activity to spreading the word to those who have not heard it, using methods such as life-style evangelism, sharing of one's testimony, one-on-one ministries door-to-door or at campuses and prisons, utilizing the media, etc.
An apologist attempts to remove barriers to belief from those who have rejected the claims of Christ for one reason or another.
There are certain overlaps between these various ministries. Just look at Paul, who practiced all of them at one time or another. However, one must also recognize that God has not gifted all Christians in the same way, and the separate ministries each have their own unique place in the body of Christ. For example, a Sunday school teacher or preacher who addresses the same group of believers every week with an evangelistic message is rightly rightly characterized as “preaching to the choir.” On the other hand, an evangelist such as Billy Graham was the first to admit that he would not exactly be called a Bible scholar. Conversely, C.S. Lewis once wrote that he would make a lousy evangelist since he considered himself primarily as an apologist. And, as far as I know, both Graham and Lewis only wrote one book each which would be called a Bible commentary.
With all that in mind, even within the field of apologetics, there are a number of different ways in which to approach it. And much depends on the characteristics of the person or group you are trying to reach and the nature of their objections. The actual books, magazines and blog posts put out by “professional atheists” form one of the most valuable resources for an apologist since they accurately represent what they themselves consider the weakest aspects of theistic beliefs. Another valuable resource comes from Reasons to Believe, a group of Christians who represent mainly the scientific community. You can access lectures from various experts in their respective fields and also their writings on the subject of apologetics. Then there various books you may want to consult, including:
The series of books by Lee Strobel entitled The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, etc.
C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, and God in the Dock
Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
Colin Brown's Miracles and the Critical Mind
Alister McGrath's The Big Question
The New Testament and Criticism by George Eldon Ladd
F.F. Bruce's The New Testament Document: Are They Still Reliable?
Hard Sayings of the Bible, Walter Kaiser, et al.
Also, in one way or the other, most of the posts on this site address questions related to apologetics one way or the other. Especially pertinent are those entitled “Bible Contradictions:” with the subtitles shown below. They may also suggest one way to study this subject by categories.
The Pentateuch, Abraham, David's Life, The Wisdom Literature, Old Testament Miscellaneous, God's Nature, The Nature of Christ, Jesus' Teachings, New Testament Passages, Religious Practices, Jesus' Early Life and Ministry, Jesus' Later Ministry and Death, Jesus' Resurrection, New Testament Miscellaneous, Genealogies, Marriage, Miscellaneous
Also see the post “Answering Atheists: Internal Contradictions in the Bible” for more supposed contradictions.
However, not all objections to the faith are due to supposed contradictions in the Bible. And for those others, the following blog posts, divided topically, may be helpful.
Philosophical Objections “God: Is Divine Evidence Credible?” by Dallas Burdette
Illogical Atheists
Theodicy: The Problem of Evil
Scientific Objections Science and Christianity
Does the Earth Move and Will the Stars Fall?
Genesis 1:30 Were Carnivores Originally Plant Eaters?
Genesis 1
Genesis 2
Leviticus 13-14 Curing Leprosy
Mark 4:30-32 How Small Is a Mustard Seed?
Moral Objections Immoral Teachings in the Bible
Leviticus 21:15-24
Mathematical Objections Mathematical Objections to the Bible
How Many Israelites Died?
I Kings 7:23 // II Chronicles 4:25: c = 3d?
Deuteronomy 14: Is a Bat a Bird?
Historical Objections Camels in the Bible
Genesis 37:28
Bible Interpretation: History Books
Joshua 5-6
Answering Atheists: Historical Errors in the Bible
Answering Atheists: The Bible's Flawed Origin
Also look at the several blogs having the sub-title “:Archeological Evidence”
For some skeptics, their biggest barrier to accepting the biblical record is the presence of miracles. I once gave a series of lessons at church on that subject and have reduced all of them to blog posts. A key to the particular subjects covered and the pertinent post titles can be found by searching for “Miracles in the Bible: A Lesson Study Guide.” The posts referenced there which pertain to Lessons 1-4 and 6 may be of special interest.
Finally, I have captured my half of a correspondence I had several years ago with an old high school friend who would consider himself an atheist. You may read it in the posts “Dialogue with an Atheist: Parts 1-7.” It represents my one foray into the area of one-on-one apologetics. My friend has a brilliant mind, but I attempted to keep up with him. If you happen to find yourself debating with someone who is totally up on science and philosophy, this dialogue may be of special interest to you even if the final result in my experience was less than satisfactory from an apologetic viewpoint. But it does illustrate some of the deficits of a totally intellectual approach when the underlying issues may lie elsewhere.
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