Apologetics is not just about presenting the evidence and making the case to others. It is also about defending our own faith. Challenges come via the media, social media, friends, enemies, colleagues, teachers, books... The enemy has no new tactics and so he can't give up on the few he has. Dropping in a "Did God really say?" is still a common approach.
The Christian faith is rooted and grounded in a series of historical figures and events. Central to all of these is the person of Jesus of Nazareth the Jewish Messiah or Christ, his life and teaching, and most importantly his death and resurrection. Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14 " And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." There are other faiths and philosophies that are built around stories and supposed revelations that are not earthed in history. But we do not have a parable about Jesus. We have accounts of his intervention in human history. If he did not do what it is recorded he did then what he is recorded to have taught is of little value.
For this reason we should not be surprised that the enemy should want to sow doubts about our records of the events. We may be familiar with the description of the armour which Paul tells us we are to stand firm in. In particular there is the shield of faith.
"In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." Eph 6:16
The question is though, how do we get a strong shield of faith? Now we might immediately go to Romans 10:17 "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." But is this ALL the bible teaches us? Reading, listening to, and meditating on the words of scripture release the faith of God into our spirits strengthening and empowering us giving us confidence in God and His promises. But do we have any other tools to strengthen our faith? Meditating on the word to drown out doubts in the authenticity of the word is a circular argument. Does the bible give us any other approach? Is there one that is relevant when attacks are made on the reliability of the record we have? Absolutely!
Read the opening verses of Luke's Gospel. " Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[ among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."
Luke is inspired to investigate the accounts. To check out the alleged eyewitness accounts and see if they stand up to scrutiny. Why? So that the reader can have confidence in the word. So that they can have a shield of faith to quench the doubts. We don't have to take Luke's word for it. We see that it is a biblical method to investigate the accounts to determine if there is good reason to believe them. To see if there is evidence for the historical events.
We don't just have to believe the bible because we choose to believe but because we can support that claim with reasonable and logical evidence.
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