Apologetics Quotes

“Those who do not believe scripture cannot understand scripture and therefore are not qualified to try to explain scripture.”
― Layla M. Gatlin

“Whoever were the inventors of such tales, whether fact or fiction, or facts concerning others and fictitiously attributed to Jove, words fail to express what a low opinion these fable-mongers must have formed of human nature to assume that men could endure such lies with patience.”
― Augustine of Hippo, City of God

“As a young Christian, what I asked was that Christians did and said things in such a way that made people not want to do and say the opposite.”
― Criss Jami

“There are at least three types of people who say the Christian Bible is inaccurate or corrupt:

1. Those who never read
2. Who never understood
3. Those who accept others' views of the scriptures as if it was their conclusions”
― Brother Pedro

“Among the favorite arguments of the irreligious, one that they almost invariably advance in their opening offensive in their attacks on faith is this: that conflicts fought in the name of religion are necessarily ABOUT religion. By saying this the irreligious hope to establish that religion is of itself the cause of conflict. This is a crude factual misunderstanding. Some conflicts fought in the name of religion are specifically religious. Many others are not, or cannot be so simply classified. The only general lesson that can be drawn from these differing wars is that Man is inclined to make war on Man when he thinks it will gain him power or wealth or land.”
― Peter Hitchens, The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith

“The truth of the faith does not stand and fall with our defense of it.”
― Os Guinness, Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion

“With the Holy Spirit resting upon us as Jesus promised, our part is to host the very presence of God wherever we are, to exercise the very power of God in every situation and to witness to the gospel and what God has done in Jesus and is doing in the world today. The call to be witnesses is central and decisive. We are not out to prove something new through the brilliance of our arguments. Our calling is to point to something old, or rather to bear witness to the established facts of the story of the gospel, though in the process clearing up anything and everything that may obscure or block a person’s understanding.

We therefore speak only on behalf of God, we speak under God, and we have no authority or power apart from God. The prophet’s formula is always “Thus says the LORD,” and the worst indictment against the false prophets was for their presumption in claiming to speak for God when their words were entirely their own. In short, the major work in the defense of the faith is about God and by God. It is not about us, and it is not up to us.”
― Os Guinness, Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion

“The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond is opaque How if you saw through the garden too?...If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S Lewis

“If you’re looking for reasons to trust God, you'll find plenty of them in the arguments to trust men.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“An apology is only as good as the actions that follow it.”
― Carlos Wallace, Life is not Complicated, You Are

“In other words, it should be understood that we [Christians] take this question of truth and personality so seriously that if God were not there, we would be among the first to have the courage to step out of the queue.”
― Francis A. Schaeffer, The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy: Three Essential Books in One Volume

“Who made who? Did we create God, or did He create us? Can God’s existence really be proven? Could other explanations be equally plausible? In the New Testament we find the claim that God has clearly made Himself known to mankind through the created order, and that all are without excuse (Romans 1:19, 20). But how far can we take this? Has God really proven His own existence? Can we know that He exists with absolute certainty? Does this also mean that no other explanations are possible?”
― Roger Ball, I Am That I Am! Can God's Existence Be Proven?

“Please allow me to wax philosophical. The purpose of eyesight, as well as insight for that matter, is for you and I to be in awe of not just creation itself but of the very One who created it. I will confidently propose that this is the purpose behind creation. Consider this: Evolution cannot explain purpose. It can only explain function. Science can explain how and why you and I function. It might even suggest your function within society. However, science alone will never give you the answer to your ultimate purpose for being on this Earth.
“Let’s suppose you go to an art museum. While pursuing the halls of art, your eyes are directed to a certain painting. You become fixated on that painting. It is beautiful. The painting is so mesmerizing and beautiful that you are taken with the image it conveys. You begin to speculate on the story behind the painting. You become emotional and even shed a tear as you stare at it in wonder. For a brief moment in time you become immersed in the essence of this work of art. What is happening here? The one who designed and created the painting did so in order to perhaps bring about an emotional response from the viewer. You didn’t look at the painting and wonder about the chemical makeup of paint or the composition of the canvas mat or what type of device was used to apply those chemical compounds to the mat. You didn’t measure the dimensions of the frame. No. The painter gave that painting a purpose. While the painting itself is remarkable and beautiful, the ultimate purpose of it is to direct you to the one who created it. We give honor to Rembrandt, Monet, Goya, Van Gogh, and Picasso. Why does evolution deny that we give honor to the One who designed, created, and gave beauty to you and me, or to any other created thing? For sure, some evolutionists will try to say that the method the grand Creator used in His creation was evolution but will continue to ignore any mention of His creative hand and minimize other accounts such as the evidence for the origin of life in Scripture. They suppress the truth as they give high honor to their evolutionary theories that they guard with defiance.
“The appearance of design isn’t just a common sense factor; it comes from a scientific explanation to which I have spoken here tonight.
“Each one of you has the ability to hear, read, study, and think on everything that goes into your mind. While we do well to consider objective theory, we still must then decide for ourselves what it is we are going to believe. We are not just lab rats responding to stimuli. We have the ability to reason, love, express emotions, think deeply on matters, and create things—not just as an evolutionary function but from our innate giftedness and developed talents.
“Give much consideration to what is true. Consider what is splendid and beautiful and magnificent. Think on things that are right or lovely or worthy of your admiration. Reflect on those things, not just as some facts of science but on the effect these things have on your very heart and soul. There is a word for those thoughts and feelings that penetrate deep within the depths of your soul. The word is visceral. No other creature on this privileged terrestrial ball has this ability. Visceral feelings are not merely a product of our DNA or the chemical and electrical impulses within our brain. Evolution offers no explanation for these deeply rooted expressions of artistic and creative thoughts and ideas. These things come from our Creator. May we not merely skim the surface of wisdom and knowledge without ever going deep. These things are meant to propel you to a deeper awareness of the world around you. They are even meant to propel us to the eternal realm.”
― Richlon Merrill, Skimming Eternity: The Astonishing and Revelatory Discovery from Neutrinos and Thought Transmission

“You cannot say that the Bible is outdated because this book talks about things to come and eternity.”
― Brother Pedro

“Without a belief in God and the soul, where is the oath? Without the oath, where is the obligation or the pressure to fulfill it? Where is the law that even kings must obey? Where is the Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus, or The bill of Rights? (All of which arose out of attempts to rule by lawless tyranny.) Where is the lifelong fidelity of husband and wife? Where is the safety of the innocent child growing in the womb? Where, in the end, is the safety for any of us from those currently bigger and stronger than we are? And how striking it is that such oaths we use to make us better, not worse.”
― Peter Hitchens, The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith

“Some sects of Progressive Christianity have devolved into a religion in which Jesus condemns his own followers, Christians, but praises everyone else in the world. It could be inferred in this religion that he is revoking his Kingship (thus turning his back on those who regard him as King); it could be inferred in this religion that instead, mankind is King.”
― Criss Jami

“Just because a supposed finding's hurled beneath the banner of 'science' does not mean it's of peak reliance, and in theory any layperson will tell you that obvious fact. It is in practice that the word itself, 'science', rings like a dinner bell for those hungry to expel religious dogmas.”
― Criss Jami

“Now if the teaching of Moses is inspired and Deuteronomy 13 and 18 tell you that future revelations must be judged according to previous revelation, and if the alleged future revelation of the Quran conflicts with the previous revelation of Moses, who has to go?
By their own logic who has to go? The Qur'an has to go. Those who advocate the worldview of the Qur'an are not able to live according to their own worldview, there's this inconsistency”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“If vou choose the airline of autonomy you're going to have to end up where you don't want to be, illogical, immoral, unfree with no dignity. And at that point the choice is between life and death. Spiritual life and death, moral life and death, intellectual life and death.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“the argument is, if God is all-good and God is all-powerful how could any of these things happen, there's an inconsistency in your Christian worldview. The intellectual answer is there is no logical inconsistency because not only do we believe God is all-good and all-powerful, we also believe there's a morally sufficient reason for everything God does.
That's one of our presuppositions, as Abraham said, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right [Genesis 18:25]. We believe that everything God does He does well for a good reason, that He is wiser than us, and even when things look tragic we know that God will bring good and His glory out of tragedy”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“The Lord said to Job: Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Let him who argues with God answer Him!… Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?" (Job 40:1-2, 8). God is not in the dock; we are. His word and character are not questionable; ours are.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“Our Christian epistemology (or theory of knowledge) should thus be elaborated and worked out in a way that is consistent with its own fundamental principles (or presuppositions), lest it be incoherent and ineffective… We ought not to espouse one thing theologically, and then practice something else in our general scholarship. One way to say this is to say that Christian scholars and apologists must be thoroughly" self-conscious "about the character of their epistemological position, letting its standards regiment and regulate every detail of their system of beliefs and its application. They always need to form opinions and develop reasoning in light of their fundamental Christian commitments.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“God's revelation is more than the best foundation for Christian reasoning; it is the only philosophically sound foundation for any reasoning whatsoever. Therefore, although the world in its own wisdom sees the word of Christ as foolishness," the foolishness of God is wiser than men "(1 Cor. 1:18, 25).”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“Christians need not sit in an isolated philosophical tower, reduced to simply despising the philosophical systems of non Christians. No, by taking every thought captive to Christ, we are enabled to cast down reasoning that is exalted against the knowledge of God (cf. 2 Cor. 10:5). We must challenge the unbeliever to give a cogent and credible account of how he knows anything whatsoever, given his espoused presuppositions about reality, truth, and man (his" worldview ").”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“The task of the apologist is not simply to show that there is no hope of eternal salvation outside of Christ, but also that the unbeliever has no present intellectual hope outside of Christ. It is foolish for him to build his house on the ruinous sands of human opinion, instead of the verbal rock of Christ (Matt. 7:24-27). He needs to see that those who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness inescapably" become vain in their reasoning… Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools "(Rom. 1:21-22). Their opposition to the faith amounts to no more than a" knowledge falsely so called "(1 Tim. 6:20-21), by which they actually" oppose themselves "in ignorance (2 Tim. 2:23, 25).”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“The unbeliever attempts to enlist logic, science, and morality in his debate against the truth of Christianity. Van Til's apologetic answers these attempts by arguing that only the truth of Christianity can rescue the meaningfulness and cogency of logic, science, and morality.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“Christian apologetics is a defense of religious faith, thus pertaining to the question of one's ultimate commitment in life. Apologetics entails intellectual reasoning in justification of one's beliefs, thus touching on the epistemological question of the final standard of knowledge.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“Therefore, the authority of Christ and His word, rather than intellectual autonomy, must govern the starting point and method of his apologetics, as well as its conclusion. He challenges the philosophical adequacy of the unbeliever's worldview, showing how it does not provide the preconditions for the intelligibility of knowledge and morality. His case for Christianity, then, argues from the impossibility of the contrary. From beginning to end, both in his own philosophical method and in what he aims to bring about in the unbeliever's thinking, the Christian apologist reasons in such a way" that in all things Christ might have the preeminence "(Col. 1:18).”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“The" greatest "commandment teaches us to love the Lord our God with all our minds, too (Matt. 22:37) – to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).”
― Greg L. Bahnsen

“The believer and the unbeliever recognize two different final standards for living including that aspect of living known as thinking, reasoning, and arguing. They are divided by their ultimate commitments, either to Christ or to some other authority (usually themselves).”
― Greg L. Bahnsen